Summit Is Not Under Discussion, U.S. Says : But Non-Soviet Sources Reaffirm Times Report of Gorbachev’s Plan to Visit U.N. in the Fall

The State Department, responding to a report in The Times, denied Sunday that any plans for a U.S.-Soviet summit are currently under discussion between Moscow and Washington.

Non-Soviet sources familiar with official U.S.-Soviet contacts, however, reaffirmed Sunday that authorities in Moscow have advised the United States privately that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev intends to fly to New York this fall to attend the U.N. General Assembly meeting and that he would be prepared to meet with President Reagan in Washington.

These sources, who asked not to be identified, said the United States was told more than a month ago that Gorbachev plans to attend the General Assembly soon after its opening in mid-September.

Within the last 10 days, the sources said, U.S. officials were told through informal but trusted channels that the Soviet leader would be prepared to go to Washington, either to sign an arms control agreement in the setting of a summit conference, or on a lower-level working visit in an effort to break the current impasse on an accord to ban intermediate-range missiles around the world.

Although no formal understanding has been reached on the matter of a summit, Gorbachev’s intentions have been clearly conveyed to responsible American officials, the sources emphasized. They said that--while his plans are subject to change and to the degree of American receptiveness--the Soviet leader’s intention as of last week was to come to New York no later than the first 10 days of October.

In addition, the sources said, the Soviets informally have outlined an itinerary for Gorbachev, should a summit materialize, that includes tours of an aircraft assembly plant, semiconductor and computer manufacturing plants in Northern California’s Silicon Valley and farms and food processing plants in California’s Central Valley.

The United States has raised no objections, and the Soviets have been given the impression that such an itinerary would be mutually agreeable, the sources said. They added that President Reagan has indicated that any summit would include an invitation to his ranch near Santa Barbara, where he is currently staying. One source, expressing surprise at the State Department denial, said the department was fully informed of these contacts.

In a statement issued in Washington, the State Department said there was “no basis” for a report Sunday in The Times that Soviet officials had advised the United States of Gorbachev’s willingness to meet with Reagan in conjunction with the General Assembly meeting, or that an itinerary had been discussed, and that there are no current plans or discussions for a summit.

‘No Basis’ for Story

“There is no basis for the story in today’s (Sunday’s) Los Angeles Times,” State Department spokesman Nancy Beck said. “There are no discussions or current plan for a summit between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev in September in connection with the U.N. General Assembly meeting.

“When he was in Geneva (in late 1985), the President invited the general secretary to the United States and that invitation still stands,” Beck said.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State George P. Shultz Sept. 15 to 17. “For now, we look forward to the planned meeting in September between Secretary Shultz and Foreign Minister Shevardnadze,” the State Department said.

Igor Bulay, a spokesman for the Soviet Embassy in Washington, said the embassy would have no comment.

The Times’ sources said Soviet officials in Moscow had portrayed Gorbachev as prepared to meet with President Reagan in the belief that a personal effort by the two leaders could resolve the current impasse on an accord to eliminate all of the two superpowers’ nuclear armed missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,000 miles.

Lower-Level Meeting

If the September meetings between Shultz and Shevardnadze, along with further work at the long-running Geneva negotiations on intermediate missiles, fail to produce an agreement ready for signing in time for Gorbachev’s arrival at the United Nations, the sources said Soviet officials had indicated that he would be prepared to come to Washington for a lower-level meeting comparable to that at Reykjavik, Iceland, in October, 1986.

Although the Western press generally portrayed Reykjavik as a summit conference, the Soviet Union did not consider it so in formal diplomatic terms.