Gorbachev Arriving Dec. 7; Reagan May Visit Moscow : Washington Summit to Sign A-Pact

President Reagan announced today that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev will visit Washington for a summit beginning Dec. 7 to sign a historic treaty to abolish intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

Reagan also expressed hopes that he would visit Moscow next year to complete an agreement to cut strategic nuclear weapons by 50%. A joint statement said the two leaders envision meeting in Moscow in the first half of 1988.

Reagan made the announcement in the White House briefing room after a 30-minute meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze. Shevardnadze had delivered a letter from Gorbachev that Reagan said was “forthcoming and statesmanlike.”

“I welcome it,” he said.

National Broadcast

Reagan was flanked by a smiling Shevardnadze and Secretary of State George P. Shultz as he made the announcement in a nationally broadcast appearance. Ambassador Yuri Dubinin and other Soviet officials watched from the side of the room.

Reagan said Gorbachev had accepted his invitation to visit Washington and “at that time we expect to sign an agreement eliminating the entire class of” intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

A joint U.S.-Soviet statement went further. It said flatly that Reagan and Gorbachev will sign the arms accord.

It would be the first time that the two superpowers had agreed to eliminate nuclear weapons rather than restrain the rate of production.

Shultz Confident

Asked if all the details of the intermediate-range nuclear force agreement had been nailed down, Reagan said, “I don’t think we could say that.” But Shultz was confident the treaty will be ready.

“If we don’t get it done, Mr. Shevardnadze and I are going to get kicked in the rear very hard by our leaders,” Shultz said.

Asked if he would have any trouble getting the Senate to ratify the pact, Reagan said, “Not if they’re thinking correctly.”

Reagan steered clear of criticizing Gorbachev, who only a week ago said he was not ready to set a summit date. “There never has been, to my knowledge, any negative from him,” Reagan said.

Shevardnadze, as he was leaving the room, asserted, “There was no flip-flop” by the general secretary.

Reagan indicated that Gorbachev’s visit will be limited to Washington, saying the Soviet leader had scheduling problems. Reagan had expressed hopes earlier of taking Gorbachev across the country to visit his mountaintop ranch near Santa Barbara.

The December visit will be Gorbachev’s first trip to the United States.

Week of Uncertainty

The announcement followed a week of uncertainty about the summit.

Shultz went to Moscow last week and unexpectedly announced that Gorbachev had not agreed to a summit because of the objections to the Reagan Administration’s “Star Wars” space-based missile defense system.

Some U.S. officials and private analysts had speculated that Gorbachev had played games with the summit and with a President weakened by domestic political troubles to try to win concessions on Reagan’s “Star Wars” plan.

Reagan said in his announcement that “there is no way we can give up” the system, which is still in the research phase.

But he said he would be willing to discuss the issue of deployment of the system with Gorbachev.

Reagan was asked about the coincidence of the summit being scheduled Dec. 7--the day in 1941 that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the United States into World War II.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Pearl Harbor Day would become superseded by the day that we begin the path to peace,” the President replied.