U.S. Negotiators Present Arms Pact Draft to Soviets

U.S. arms negotiators offered a draft treaty Wednesday for removing medium-range nuclear weapons from Europe and challenged the Soviets to agree on eliminating them worldwide.

The American presentation came on what was to have been the last day in the seventh round of the U.S.-Soviet arms talks that began two years ago.

U.S. spokesman Terry Shroeder said teams dealing with medium-range missiles would continue meeting indefinitely. He said the other two negotiating groups, on long-range (strategic) weapons and the combined fields of defense and space, will continue through Friday.

Maynard W. Glitman, who leads the U.S. team on medium-range arms, said the American proposal embodies tentative agreements reached in President Reagan’s summit with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Iceland last October.

Limit on Warheads

He said those included a limit of 100 warheads deployed on the territory of each superpower, with the Soviet missiles assigned to Asia.

Glitman added that the United States also would like to eliminate the remaining 100 weapons on each side if the Soviets would agree. That point was not included in the draft, he said, but “if the other side wanted to go further, I’m more than positive that we’d be more than happy to do so.”

Before the Soviet delegation arrived at the U.S. Mission for Wednesday’s hourlong meeting, Glitman held an unusual meeting with a pool of reporters to answer questions.

He said the United States was presenting a “full treaty text” that contained “a lot of detail.”

The only incomplete area dealt with verification, he said, adding that one point, which he did not specify, remained to be worked out with North Atlantic Treaty Organization members.

British and West German government sources said NATO members were discussing how to regulate on-site inspection of missile dismantling on both sides.

Asked whether he thought the U.S. draft had full NATO support, Glitman replied, “Yes, I think it does.” He said officials of the alliance had been briefed on an outline several weeks ago and had an opportunity later to look at the text.

He would not anticipate possible Soviet objections to the draft and said, “With good will on both sides I think we can resolve them.”

Questions of verification and limiting shorter-range systems could be difficult, he said, but there are broad agreements in principle in both areas.

Glitman confirmed the U.S. proposal also deals with shorter-range missiles and declared, “We believe they have to be an integral part of the treaty and they have to be constrained.”

Max M. Kampelman, the overall chief of the U.S. delegation, plans to visit Brussels on Thursday to brief NATO members. Glitman said he will accompany Kampelman, then go to Washington for consultations and return to Geneva early next week.