Soviets See Bonn Arms as 2-Way Gambit

The Soviet Union warned Tuesday that if West Germany is allowed to retain U.S. nuclear warheads for its 72 Pershing 1A missiles, Moscow could use the same gambit to keep shorter-range nuclear missiles in Eastern Europe.

The Foreign Ministry statement came a day after President Reagan called for elimination of all shorter-range nuclear missiles. The Novosti news agency said Reagan’s speech contained “little new and encouraging.” The Soviet agency said the two countries are “now closer than ever before” to agreements but warned against attempts to “undermine them by bringing up unrelated issues.”

The future of the West German missiles looms as a potentially serious obstacle to a superpower agreement on European missiles, with Washington insisting that German missiles cannot be included in any deal.

Expanded Proposal

An original proposal to eliminate medium-range missiles--those with ranges of 1,000-3,000 miles--has been expanded now to also include shorter-range missiles.

“If we were to agree with the arguments of the United States and the federal government of Germany on those warheads, this would be a loophole to bypass the Soviet-American agreement--to make it completely void of any substance,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov said.

While the Pershing 1As--shorter-range missiles with a range of 300-1,000 miles--are controlled by West Germany, the nuclear warheads are held by U.S. forces.

Washington says the missiles are German and, like the British and French nuclear forces that were excluded from superpower negotiations, cannot be included in a U.S.-Soviet agreement.

Gerasimov said that since West Germany is not allowed to have nuclear weapons, the warheads are clearly American.

If Washington was allowed to provide nuclear warheads for West German missiles, it could do the same for missiles owned by Turkey or Italy, he said.

In return, the Soviet Union could give its missiles to East Germany or Czechoslovakia, then provide Soviet-made warheads and “state that they are weapons belonging to a third party,” Gerasimov said.

“It’s clear that such a development of events does not support progress on eliminating medium-range and shorter-range operational tactical missiles in Europe,” Gerasimov told a briefing.

The Soviet Union has hundreds of shorter-range SS-12, SS-22 and SS-23 missiles and 140 launchers in Eastern Europe. Moscow deployed them in retaliation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization decision to match the Soviet buildup in medium-range missiles.

The United States has no shorter-range missiles of its own.

Reagan proposed Monday that the two countries eliminate all shorter-range missiles worldwide. U.S. officials are concerned the missiles are easily transportable.

On Tuesday, U.S. negotiators formally submitted the proposal to the Soviets in Geneva.

The two sides already have a draft agreement to eliminate all medium-range missiles in Europe, with the two sides retaining only 100 warheads each.