Moscow Stalling on Shultz, Shevardnadze Talks: U.S.

The Reagan Administration accused the Soviet Union today of “drawing back” from earlier proposals on arms control and from setting a date for a meeting between Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.

The failure to set a date for a Shultz-Shevardnadze meeting has two apparent results: Technical disagreements among American and Soviet negotiators will not be resolved soon at a higher level--and the likelihood of a U.S. visit this year by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev is decreasing.

The criticism was leveled at Moscow by Charles E. Redman, the State Department spokesman, after Shultz met for nearly an hour with Soviet Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin.

“If the Soviets are willing to move, so are we,” Redman said.

But he left the clear impression that expectations for a Shultz-Shevardnadze meeting sometime in the middle of this month had vanished in a sudden lack of progress in Geneva on limiting U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons.

“The Soviet Union seems to be drawing back in the last week or two from what we would consider a constructive or positive approach to address some of the tough issues that are out there,” Redman said.

He cited the area of arms control and setting a date for a Shultz-Shevardnadze meeting. “For the last couple of weeks, their negotiators have been unwilling to talk,” said an official who demanded anonymity. “They just don’t have instructions.”

About a month ago, the Soviets offered a compromise to clear the way for a treaty eliminating the two sides’ medium-range nuclear missiles. “But now they are backing off,” the official said.

Dubinin saw Shultz after returning from consultations in Moscow. Redman said their discussion concerned arms control, regional issues and “where the relationship stands.”

He said the U.S. side was prepared “to go on as rapidly, as constructively, as possible.”