‘Star Wars’ Derails Hopes for a Superpower Summit : Reversal Catches U.S. by Surprise

A snag over “Star Wars” today derailed hopes for a U.S.-Soviet summit meeting, even though the two sides were close to wrapping up an accord to scrap their intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, reporting the disappointing turn of events at a news conference, said Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev told him that he is not prepared to visit the United States soon unless Washington changes its stand on the space-based missile defense system.

White House officials seemed to be caught off guard by the turn of events.

Just moments before Shultz’s announcement in Moscow, White House chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr. was speculating a summit date “would look like some time the second or third week in November.”

Gorbachev Not Satisfied

Reagan spokesman Marlin Fitzwater had said he expected Shultz to return with a range of dates for a summit, leaving it up to Reagan and Gorbachev to make the final agreement.

In Moscow, Shultz said Gorbachev is “not yet satisfied in the area of space and defense.”

“In the general secretary’s view, he’s not prepared, apparently, under current circumstances to set a date for a visit to Washington,” Shultz told a news conference, which was televised live in the United States.

Shultz added, “Why that is, you’ll have to ask him.”

Neither Gorbachev nor Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze appeared at the news conference.

Letter to Tell Views

Shultz said Gorbachev will outline his views in a letter he expects to send Reagan soon.

“I suppose the next thing we’ll keep doing is to check the mailman,” Shultz said wryly. He said there was no point in setting another meeting with Shevardnadze, although they had worked well together in making preparations for the summit that the Soviets tentatively agreed to attend sometime this fall.

“We have not set any date for Mr. Gorbachev’s visit, although he assured us he wishes to come and holds open the possibility of coming this year.”

“Of course I would prefer that we had a date set,” he said.

But Shultz said Reagan is unwilling to “give up the ability of the United States to pursue the research necessary or for that matter to move ahead” with development of a space-based missile defense shield. The shield is called Strategic Defense Initiative, or SDI, by the Reagan Adminsitration. It is popularly known as Star Wars.

A Matter of Security

“This is a matter of our security,” Shultz said.

Star Wars has been a stumbling block on nuclear arms control since the day Reagan announced his support for it during his first term in office.

“Summit meetings can be very productive,” Shultz said, reaffirming the Reagan Administration’s determination to arrange a third meeting between the President and the Communist Party general secretary.

They met first in Geneva in November, 1985, and again in Reykjavik, Iceland, a year ago.

Shultz traveled to Moscow earlier in the week with expectations high that he and Soviet officials could nail down final terms of the arms-reduction pact.

After meeting with Gorbachev for more than four hours, Shultz said the two sides are “virtually there” on a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons. He said most of the remaining disagreements are largely in the area of verification to guard against cheating.

“Of course, we feel very strongly that we must take the time necessary to be satisfied that we have done as much as is possible in the field of verification,” he said.