Thatcher Hails <i> Glasnost, </i> Sees Much Yet to Do

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher today hailed recent Soviet liberalization moves but said much remains to be done. She also underscored East-West disagreement on how to eliminate medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe.

Thatcher, on a five-day official visit that began Saturday, told a news conference that this trip is “the most fascinating and invigorating I have ever made abroad as prime minister.”

Thatcher recalled that she first met Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev when he visited London in December, 1984, three months before he became Communist Party general secretary.

“I said he was someone I was able to do business with. Well, we were able to do business yesterday,” she said.

Met for Nine Hours

The two leaders met for nearly nine hours Monday. She said they discused arms control, Afghanistan, human rights and Soviet-British relations.

“We both believe in speaking frankly and we had plenty of opportunity for that,” she said.

She mentioned Gorbachev’s programs for increasing economic efficiency and allowing greater debate on some social issues.

“I warmly welcome this process. Anything that makes the Soviet Union a more open society will strengthen trust and confidence.”

‘Still a Great Deal to Do’

She applauded the release of several dozen political prisoners in recent months and other elements of Gorbachev’s promotion of glasnost, or openness, but added: “There is still a great deal to do.”

She said the two leaders discussed the elimination of superpower medium-range missiles from Europe.

The Soviets want a separate agreement on U.S. and Soviet medium-range weapons and say they will follow that with negotiations on withdrawing short-range weapons from Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

U.S. officials and Thatcher say the medium-range missile agreement must take into account, and remedy, the overwhelming Soviet superiority in the short-range missiles.

West Wants Equal Limits

Thatcher said the Western allies want “not only a freeze on the Soviet side but the right to equal limits on both sides” in the shorter-range tactical weapons.

“We in the West would like to match equal limits. That has not been agreed,” she said.

Earlier today, in another demonstration of her support for Soviet human rights activists, she met with dissidents Andrei D. Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner.