Soviet Activist Also Calls for Afghan Pullout : Free Political Prisoners, Sakharov Urges

Human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov called Thursday for the release of all political prisoners in the Soviet Union and for the “swift withdrawal” of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

Sakharov commented in an interview with the Moscow News, which is published weekly in Russian and several foreign languages.

The account of the interview with the 66-year-old physicist appeared as Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and a large entourage prepared to leave next week for Washington, where he is scheduled to sign a Soviet-American agreement to eliminate a whole class of nuclear weapons--ground-launched intermediate-range missiles.

President Reagan has promised that in his talks with Gorbachev he will raise the human rights issue and urge Gorbachev to allow Soviet dissidents to leave the country if they wish to do so.

Protest by Refuseniks

A group of Jewish refuseniks, who have applied to leave the Soviet Union but have been turned down, are planning to demonstrate Sunday in front of the Foreign Ministry. This is the only scheduled dissident activity here in advance of the summit meeting in Washington. It is not known whether the police will allow it to take place.

On Saturday, government-sponsored groups plan to form a “human chain for peace” made up of people representing the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and the U.S. Embassy here. The Soviet authorities apparently look on this as a counter to any dissident activity.

Sakharov, a holder of the Nobel Peace Prize who spent seven years in internal exile until his release last year, said in the interview with the Moscow News that more trust is needed between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Conditions for Trust

He said he believes that two things are urgently required to establish this trust:

-- “The ending of the suffering of the Afghan people and the dying of Soviet soldiers, the swift withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

-- “The unconditional release and rehabilitation of all prisoners jailed for their convictions or for nonviolent actions arising out of their convictions.”

Sakharov emphasized the need to rehabilitate people who have been released. Some dissidents say that even though they have been released from detention, they are still hounded by the police and bureaucrats.

Sakharov, once a prominent nuclear physicist, said he favors the missile agreement to be signed in Washington and would welcome an additional accord, which has been proposed, that would eliminate 50% of the superpowers’ strategic, or long-range, missiles.

Opposed to ‘Star Wars’

But he said he opposes Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, the so-called “Star Wars” program for a space-based defense against incoming missiles.

“My conviction is based on what is generally accepted by all experts as the low effectiveness and vulnerability of SDI in the foreseeable future,” he said.

Sakharov said he thinks the Soviet Union should reduce the length of compulsory military service, now two to three years, and declare a unilateral reduction of all types of weaponry.

To save mankind from disaster, he said, there must be “profound changes toward opening up society, observance of human rights and the convergence of capitalist and socialist societies.”

Meanwhile, Tass, the official Soviet news agency, said that divine prayer services for the success of the summit meeting in Washington will be conducted Sunday in Russian Orthodox Churches in various parts of the Soviet Union.