No Gorbachev Visit Planned, Soviet Says : Foreign Ministry Aide Calls Times Report on U.S. Trip ‘Baseless’

A Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Monday denied a report in the Los Angeles Times that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev is planning a late September visit to the United Nations and expects to see President Reagan in Washington.

“It’s a baseless story,” Gennady I. Gerasimov, chief spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said in a telephone interview. “From the beginning to the end, there is nothing to it.” Gerasimov’s denial followed similar denials by State Department officials Sunday.

The Times report from Washington was based on statements by officials who spoke on condition that they not be named.

“You can say I am an official who spoke only on condition that I will be identified,” Gerasimov said Monday.

“It’s not true that he (Gorbachev) plans to go to the U.N. General Assembly in September and after that go to ride horses in California,” he added.

The Times article, published Sunday, said officials familiar with U.S.-Soviet contacts expect Gorbachev to extend his New York-Washington visit and travel to Reagan’s ranch in California if the Soviet Union and the United States reach an agreement on eliminating medium- and shorter-range nuclear weapons.

At his most recent press briefing last week, Gerasimov even cast doubt on whether Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze will go to Washington for a planned Sept. 15-17 meeting with Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

The Soviet spokesman accused the U.S negotiators at Geneva of dragging their feet on nuclear arms control talks, and he said this raises questions about the usefulness of a Shultz-Shevardnadze session.

Gerasimov stopped short, however, of saying that Shevardnadze will not keep his appointment with Shultz.

Gorbachev has said repeatedly that he sees no point in going to a summit conference with Reagan unless there is some substantial business to be conducted, such as the signing of a treaty to abolish medium-range and shorter-range nuclear missiles.

Fitzwater Reiterates Denial

In Santa Barbara, where President Reagan is vacationing at his ranch, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater again denied knowledge of any plans for a Gorbachev visit.

“We have had no contact with the Soviets concerning a visit by General Secretary Gorbachev to the United States,” he said, and “no indication that he is going to attend the United Nations meeting--no indication that he would like to meet with President Reagan.

“The President has, of course, issued the invitation for him to come to the United States for a summit at any time,” Fitzwater continued. “We have not received a response to that, and there has been no change in those plans.”

Reagan still hopes to meet Gorbachev in Washington later this year to sign a missile-reduction accord, Fitzwater said.

However, late September or early October, the likely date for a Gorbachev visit cited in The Times’ report, is probably too soon to seal an arms-control agreement, he added.

White House officials previously have speculated that an arms-control summit might take place in Washington in November or December.

Fitzwater did not rule out the possibility of a so-called “working visit” by Gorbachev should the Soviet leader come to the U.N. session at a time when Reagan is also in New York.

However, he said, “we know of no plans, and we’re not trying to signal any plans” for such a meeting.