Soviets Present Draft Treaty on European Mid-Range Missiles

The Soviet Union on Monday presented the United States with a draft treaty on eliminating medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe and said it could be the basis for a U.S.-Soviet agreement.

Alexei A. Obukhov, the Soviet deputy chief arms control negotiator, presented the documents at a meeting of U.S. and Soviet negotiators on intermediate-range nuclear forces, the Soviet agency Tass reported from Geneva. The discussions, conducted at the U.S. diplomatic mission, lasted 2 1/2 hours.

Soviet officials are scheduled to hold a news conference here today to explain their proposals. Obukhov did not speak to reporters Monday, but in a television interview broadcast in the Soviet Union, he cautioned against expectations of an early breakthrough. “The work ahead will not be simple, if one takes into account that the American approach, as we know it at the present time, includes some elements which are known to be unconstructive,” Obukhov said.

‘Effective, Equitable Accord’

Obukhov said an agreement can be reached but only if the superpowers strive for “an effective and equitable accord which would take equal account of the legitimate security interests of both sides.”

Reporters were not allowed inside the U.S. Mission, and U.S. spokesman Terry Shroeder said no U.S. briefing or statement was scheduled.

The medium-range missile negotiations, which both sides say are the nearest to agreement of the three sets of talks in Geneva, resumed Thursday after a one-month break. The other two sets of talks, on long-range weapons and space and defense weapons, are scheduled to resume May 5.

Tass reported that the Soviet draft documents presented Monday take “into account corresponding elements of” a U.S. draft treaty proposed March 4.

It said they “furnish a constructive basis for working out in a short time provisions for inclusion in a joint draft INF (intermediate-range nuclear forces) treaty.”

Tass said the draft treaty proposed eliminating the superpowers’ medium-range missiles from Europe and also addressed ways to limit missiles based on U.S. and Soviet territory. The agency gave no details.