Soviet Envoy Downplays Arms Pact Snags

Soviet Ambassador Yuri V. Dubinin, in a rare question-and-answer session with American reporters, Friday downplayed recent Soviet objections posed in the superpower negotiations on a pending arms control agreement, calling them “technical problems” and not of interest “even to our own embassy.”

Dubinin’s remarks come the day after Secretary of State George P. Shultz left on a 10-day trip that will include arms talks in Moscow. They are perhaps the most optimistic Soviet expression yet that the United States and the Soviet Union will complete an intermediate-range missile pact for signing at a summit in Washington later this year.

“Politically, the question for us is clear,” the Soviet envoy said, citing the “agreement in principle” reached last month on eliminating all superpower nuclear missiles with ranges of between 300 and 3,000 miles. “We stand firmly on this.”

Dubinin talked for an hour with reporters about the arms control agreement and other issues during a press conference announcing the U.S. publication of “Gorbachev: Mandate for Peace,” a paperback collection of Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s speeches. It was one of the few times that Dubinin has talked extensively with the American press since his appointment 17 months ago.

The Soviet ambassador echoed Shultz’s upbeat prediction Thursday that Shultz would be able to “wrap up” the agreement in the Moscow talks.

The ambassador described the pact as “absolutely special” and essentially settled except for “technicalities.” He declined to elaborate, other than to say that some of the technicalities involve the provisions for verifying compliance by both sides.

Earlier this month, Soviet negotiators also expressed concerns about 72 Pershing 1-A missiles that are deployed by West Germany but have U.S. warheads. They are not included in the proposed agreement, although West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has promised that they will be dismantled by the deadline for dismantling the Soviet and U.S. missiles.

Dubinin said that the Soviets are “eager” to go “as far as is necessary” to work out remaining differences. They are “very technical, very technical. It is not of interest, these points, even to our own embassy,” he said.

The ambassador said that if President Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Washington to sign the intermediate-range missile agreement, as expected, he hopes all related details can be disposed of quickly so that they can address other pressing issues.

Those, he said, include agreements on other nuclear, conventional and chemical weapons, “strict compliance” with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, regional conflicts and human rights issues.