Gorbachev Yields on Mid-Range Missiles : Agrees to U.S. Plan for Elimination of Arms in Europe, Asia

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Wednesday embraced a “global double zero” option in nuclear arms talks, dropping the Kremlin’s previous insistence on retaining 100 mid-range warheads in Asia.

The announcement, carried by the official news agency Tass and broadcast on Soviet television, appeared to remove a major roadblock at the Geneva arms control talks on medium-range missiles.

The Soviet Union called for a special meeting today to present the new position, and a U.S. spokesman in Geneva said the U.S. delegation has agreed.

The “global double option”--”double” because it applies to Asia and not just Europe--was proposed by the U.S. side at the Reykjavik summit between Gorbachev and President Reagan last October. Gorbachev opposed it at the time, but his statements Wednesday, which Tass said were made in response to questions from an Indonesian newspaper, in essence embrace the American position.

U.S. officials had argued that an agreement to eliminate all medium-range missiles--in Asia as well as Europe--would be easier to verify. Moscow also had objected to Washington’s contention that it could station its 100 warheads in Alaska--within range of Soviet territory--if the Soviets kept missiles in Asia.

After the recent weeks of charges and countercharges over stalling tactics at Geneva, the Gorbachev announcement seemed to revive hopes that an arms control accord on intermediate nuclear force (INF) missiles--medium and shorter-range missiles--could be worked out this year. However, other related questions, primarily centering on 72 West German Pershing 1-A missiles with their American-controlled nuclear warheads, remain to be ironed out.

Missiles being discussed in an INF pact include two groups:

-- About 270 medium-range Soviet SS-20s, each with three warheads, and 112 single-warhead SS-4 missiles in Europe and Asia. On the U.S. side, 316 single-warhead Pershing 2 and cruise missiles, all in Europe. These have a range of 600 to 3,000 miles.

-- About 140 shorter-range Soviet SS-12/A/B and SS-23 rocket launchers, each with six single-warhead missiles. These have a range of between 300 and 600 miles. The United States has none of these weapons.

The new Soviet position came without warning in an interview with an Indonesian journalist, B.M. Diah, publisher and editor-in-chief of the daily Merdeka. Gorbachev’s written responses to Diah’s questions included shorter-range missiles, with a range of 300 to 600 miles, in the “double zero” talks.

In addition, the Soviet leader did not link the elimination of missiles in Asia with the pullout of American nuclear weapons from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

He presented the move as a concession to Asian nations, rather than adoption of the U.S. position, however, in the interview.

“In an effort to accommodate the Asian countries and take into account their concerns, the Soviet Union is prepared to agree to eliminate all of its medium-range missiles in the Asian part of the country as well,” Gorbachev said.

The Kremlin “is prepared to remove the question of retaining those 100 warheads on medium-range missiles which are being discussed with the Americans at the negotiations in Geneva, provided, of course, that the United States does the same.”

“Shorter-range missiles also will be eliminated,” he added, without any further amplification.

“In other words, we will proceed from the concept of a ‘global double zero,’ ” he said.

In the past, Soviet military leaders have expressed concern that the United States would gain a military advantage if the Soviet Union eliminated its medium-range missiles from Europe while the United States retained bases in Asian countries from which U.S. nuclear bombers could threaten the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev’s statement, however, took a milder view.

“We do not link this (global double zero) initiative in this case with the U.S. nuclear presence in (South) Korea, the Philippines, on Diego Garcia,” he said. Diego Garcia is an American base on an island in the Indian Ocean.

“We would like to hope, though, that it, at least, will not grow,” Gorbachev added.

During his interview, granted on the anniversary of a major speech on Asian themes delivered last year in the Soviet city of Vladivostok, Gorbachev also suggested other ways to reduce Soviet-American confrontation in Asia.

“The Soviet Union is prepared to assume an obligation not to increase the number of its nuclear-capable aircraft in the Asian part of the country, provided the United States does not deploy in that region, additionally, nuclear systems capable of reaching the territory of the Soviet Union,” he said.

“Second, I reiterate our readiness for reducing the activities of the naval fleets of the U.S.S.R. and the United States in the Pacific,” he added. “We would agree to restrict the areas where naval vessels carrying nuclear weapons move so that they would not be able to approach the coastline of the other side within range of their on-board nuclear systems.” Gorbachev also proposed a curb on rivalry in anti-submarine warfare and a ban on anti-submarine air patrols in certain zones.