Soviets Stalling on Arms Reduction Talks, U.S. Says

The Reagan Administration accused the Soviet Union on Friday of slowing down negotiations to curb nuclear weapons and refusing to set a date for a problem-solving session here between Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

“We regret that; we are prepared to go on as rapidly, as constructively, as possible,” Charles E. Redman, the State Department spokesman, said after leveling unusually harsh criticism at Moscow. “The welcome mat is still out.”

The public blast followed a report to Shultz by Soviet Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin, who returned late Wednesday from Moscow after lengthy consultations at the Kremlin. They met for nearly an hour in Shultz’s seventh-floor office, surveying arms control, regional disputes and, Redman said, “where the relationship stands.”

Before Dubinin went home, the State Department had suggested several dates, all in July, for a two-day meeting between Shultz and Shevardnadze. The primary item on their agenda would have been tackling the remaining obstacles to a treaty banning medium-range nuclear missiles and discussing a visit here later in the year by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

But, Redman said, “no date has been set” for Shevardnadze to see Shultz. The U.S. spokesman then launched into an attack on Soviet behavior in the Geneva talks. “We’ve seen a drawing back in Geneva where we’ve seen over the period of the last several weeks a lack of willingness to engage seriously and constructively in the negotiating process,” Redman said.

Two U.S. officials, who demanded anonymity, said the Soviet negotiators had not put forward a proposed draft treaty to reduce long-range nuclear bombers, missiles and submarines that had been expected.

In fact, one official said, “for the last couple of weeks their negotiators have been unwilling to talk. They just don’t have instructions.”

Only a month ago, prospects for a treaty to eliminate medium-range missiles brightened when Col. Gen. Nikolai Chervov, a senior adviser to the Soviet general staff, offered a compromise to U.S. negotiator Maynard Glitman.

Privately Welcomed

It met a U.S. demand for the elimination of Soviet missiles in Asia, as well as Europe, and was privately welcomed by the Reagan Administration.

However, a U.S. official said Friday, the chief Soviet negotiator, Yuli Vorontsov, subsequently disavowed Chervov’s offer, saying it did not reflect his views or the position of the Soviet government.

Still, the official said, Dubinin was expected to tell Shultz when Shevardnadze would see him. “It didn’t work out that way,” the official said.

The slowdown in the Geneva talks and the public U.S. criticism of Soviet behavior raised doubts that the two sides can agree soon on a missile treaty or make arrangements for Gorbachev to hold a summit here with President Reagan in the fall.

Redman stressed that Shultz had found “relatively regular” meetings with Shevardnadze “a way of moving the ball forward” and “a useful tool.”

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

Two other officials said Shevardnadze might attend U.N. Security Council meetings this week on the Iran-Iraq war. Since Shultz already plans to be there, they might hold their meeting in New York, the officials said.

But they said no arrangements had been made.