Thatcher Tries to Ease Distrust on Space Arms

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Monday proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union spell out a detailed timetable of their research into space-based defense systems to reduce distrust and build confidence between the two superpowers.

The proposal, made during extended talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, appeared to place Thatcher in the role of a mediator between the superpowers--a role she has consistently denied she would ever play.

The meeting, followed by speeches at a state banquet in the Kremlin, was one of the most extraordinary between a Soviet leader and a Western leader in recent years.

The talks went on for nearly nine hours, two hours longer than expected. A planned expanded session of Soviet and British officials was canceled, and most of the time only note-takers and interpreters were present during the discussions, described by British officials as “vigorous, lively and animated.”

Thatcher’s apparent attempt to seek a compromise on space weapons came as she defended the right of both the United States and the Soviet Union to conduct research to determine the feasibility of such systems.

She also called on both superpowers to commit themselves to the terms of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty for a fixed period and to agree to negotiations before deployment of any space-based defensive weapons.

Interpretation Argued

The 1972 ABM treaty has been the subject of controversy in the United States, with some members of the Reagan Administration arguing for a broad interpretation of the document that would allow deployment of a defense against ballistic missiles. Gorbachev has accused Reagan of trying to wreck the treaty by pushing for a broad interpretation.

British government sources here indicated that the idea of introducing such confidence-building measures had been discussed privately with senior U.S. officials but had not been proposed publicly before.

Gorbachev, in his formal reply to Thatcher’s speech, accused the West of retreating in bargaining over medium-range missiles and warned that time is running out on the chance to conclude an agreement on removing those weapons from Europe.

“The next few weeks,” he warned, will decide whether the United States and the Soviet Union can settle the longstanding dispute--a time frame that includes a coming trip to Moscow by Secretary of State George P. Shultz in mid-April before the next round of Geneva arms control talks.

The Kremlin chief, who did not mention President Reagan’s plan for a space-based missile defense in his banquet speech, directly challenged Thatcher’s views on several points, including the role of nuclear weapons.

Gorbachev described them as “the fuse of the charge which is capable of destroying civilization.”

“It is alarming that the West continues to claim today that nuclear deterrence is the only way of averting war,” he said.

Just minutes earlier, Thatcher had implied that a nuclear-free world is a dream beyond reach.

No ‘Defense on Dreams’

“But you cannot base a sure defense on dreams,” she said. “The fact is that nuclear weapons exist and the knowledge of how to make them cannot be erased.” The two leaders also openly disagreed on several other issues, including arms control and policy on human rights.

British officials said the tone and much of the content of the speeches reflected the private discussions between the two leaders, which lasted so long that an expanded plenary session scheduled for late Monday afternoon was canceled.

“The speeches show the extent to which they can discuss things frankly but without hostility,” commented a Thatcher aide. “I think they are capable of speaking their minds to each other, and I think they like having a good argument with each other.”

Earlier, the same official said the two had raised their voices and argued strenuously, but without hostility.

“It was terrific,” the aide said. “I think they’re invigorated by each other.” The Soviet news agency Tass described the marathon encounter as “sharp,” “frank” and containing “strong arguments.”

Such language, in Soviet diplomatic code, usually indicates nothing less than a pitched verbal battle. Veteran Moscow hands could not recall such a description of talks with a Western leader in recent years.

However, at another point, Tass also said the talks proceeded “in a friendly way, although it was not without polemics,” adding that Gorbachev voiced strong disagreement with Thatcher on human rights issues and security, including the need for nuclear arms.

“We are not going to make war on the United States or on Britain, or on anyone else,” Tass quoted Gorbachev as telling his visitor.

In contrast, the official news agency asserted: “The logic of Margaret Thatcher’s reasoning made it clear . . . she was convinced that the Soviet Union intended to impose communism around the world and that the threat of a Soviet attack on Western Europe remained.

“Mikhail Gorbachev refuted with arguments this totally groundless opinion,” Tass added.

It was the official Soviet media that first dubbed Thatcher “the Iron Lady,” a description that stuck.

The initial round of talks Monday morning, scheduled to last two hours, lasted nearly four, requiring Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe to substitute for Thatcher at a lunch with leading Soviet intellectuals. Thatcher arrived in time for dessert.

At the state banquet, the two leaders were seen continuing an often-animated conversation.

A British official said Thatcher told the Soviet leader after the formal session that he had “given a full and fascinating account of his hopes and plans for the Soviet Union.” The official, briefing reporters, said the two agreed on the need to eliminate medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe but had differed strongly on the need to link an agreement on medium-range missiles with immediate follow-up negotiations on shorter-range weapons. The West has no weapons comparable to the shorter-range missiles deployed by the Soviets in Europe.

100 Names Submitted

Gorbachev also reportedly rejected Thatcher’s view that the West has a right to match Soviet short-range missile strength.

As Thatcher and Gorbachev talked, Howe reportedly submitted the names of more than 100 people who have been denied permission to leave the country and join relatives in the West.

None of the cases were discussed by the two leaders, but Gorbachev reportedly assured Thatcher that the cases raised would be given consideration.