Bonn Accepts Most of Soviet Arms Proposal

West Germany’s governing coalition on Monday reluctantly accepted, with one potentially important condition, a Soviet offer to bar from Europe an entire class of short-range, superpower nuclear missiles as part of a planned deal that would also eliminate medium-range missiles from the continent.

The decision removed a major obstacle to a U.S.-Soviet treaty to slash European-based missile forces. It was announced after a meeting of Cabinet ministers and leaders of the three parties in Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s center-right coalition.

This brought the Bonn government into line with the United States and the other North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, which already have informally endorsed Moscow’s offer, and ended a bitter, six-week debate within the Kohl government.

Conservatives Disgruntled

But the government’s action left many conservatives disgruntled. They said their legitimate objections to the deal had been swept aside because of President Reagan’s desire to achieve a disarmament deal before the end of his term, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s wish to be seen as a supporter of arms control during the current British election campaign, according to governmental and political sources.

The governing coalition issued a statement accepting the so-called “double-zero option.” It provides for removal from Europe of short-range missiles, or those with ranges of between 300 and 1,000 miles, together with withdrawal of medium-range missiles in the 1,000-to-3,000-mile category.

The Bonn coalition attached only one potentially significant reservation to its acceptance of the “double-zero” proposal. It said that West Germany wants to keep 72 Pershing 1A missiles, which are owned by the West German air force but whose nuclear warheads are controlled by the United States.

West Germany maintains that the Pershing 1A missiles, like the nuclear arsenals of Britain and France, should be excluded from the bargain because they are third-country systems, whereas the Geneva talks cover only U.S. and Soviet missiles.

That is in line with the current U.S. position at Geneva, but it pointed to a potential stumbling block. The aged Pershing 1As can travel about 450 miles and fall in the category of short-range missiles to be removed under the proposed deal, so Moscow has insisted that the U.S.-controlled warheads be withdrawn as part of the bargain.

Withdrawal Foreseen

West German political sources said, however, that there is a good chance that the Pershing 1As ultimately will be withdrawn despite Bonn’s opposition. They suggested that the U.S. Administration would not allow the Pershing 1As to stand in the way of a major disarmament accord.

The United States and the Soviet Union already have agreed on the broad outlines of the medium-range part of the deal, but progress in the Geneva negotiations has been delayed by Bonn’s skepticism over the Soviet short-range proposal.

The decision represented a significant victory for the detente-oriented policies of Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, whose small Free Democratic Party, a coalition partner, favored the “double-zero” package. Genscher maintained that Bonn should not stand in the way of a major disarmament agreement, especially when Washington supports it.

Conservatives in Kohl’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian-based sister party, the Christian Social Union, contended instead that the proposed deal would leave West Germany especially vulnerable to the Warsaw Pact’s advantages in missiles with ranges of less than 300 miles and in conventional infantry and armored forces.

Link to Conventional Arms

The Bonn coalition also recommended that negotiations on the short-range missiles should be considered “in connection” with efforts to achieve a balance in conventional and chemical weapons forces in Europe. That reflected a concession to the conservatives. But the coalition did not demand a link between the short-range and conventional issues.

Finally, the coalition urged negotiations aimed at reducing battlefield missiles in the range below 300 miles. But, here, too, it did not demand such talks as a condition for accepting the Soviet offer on missiles in the 300-to-1,000-mile range.

The United States, without applying public pressure, had urged the West Germans to make up their minds on the short-range issue before the Venice summit of seven leading Western industrialized nations, which begins Monday.