Europe Troops, Afghan War on Soviet Agenda

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who arrives here today for his third summit with President Reagan, is prepared to discuss withdrawing Soviet troops from Afghanistan and scaling back the Soviets’ strong advantage in non-nuclear forces in Europe, Soviet officials said Sunday.

Although Gorbachev’s three days of meetings with Reagan will be dominated by nuclear arms control, U.S. officials expect the two leaders also to discuss other issues that aggravate superpower relations.

Warn Against Optimism

But some U.S. officials, contending that the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan could not last three months if the Soviets ended their eight-year occupation, warn against optimism on an early Soviet withdrawal. And on the issue of non-nuclear forces in Europe, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Western Europe would have to be a party to any agreement to reduce the conventional forces of NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Reagan and Gorbachev, who will hold four one-on-one meetings and a private lunch during the summit, plan to complete work Tuesday on the centerpiece of the event, signing the treaty that will eliminate both nations’ medium-range nuclear missiles. They then will work toward a second treaty that would cut in half the much more potent long-range nuclear arsenals of the superpowers.

Sends New Signals

Gorbachev, portrayed by many American officials as especially eager to reach an agreement on strategic arms, on Sunday sent new signals that Reagan’s space-based missile defense system, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), may no longer be considered an obstacle to such a treaty. Soviet officials said in interviews that SDI is not even an issue for the summit, although it was cited by Gorbachev as a chief stumbling block when his last meeting with Reagan collapsed 14 months ago in Reykjavik, Iceland.

At the same time, Gennady I. Gerasimov, the spokesman for the Soviet Foreign Ministry, said on ABC-TV’s “This Week with David Brinkley” that Gorbachev has put a proposal to withdraw Soviet troops from Afghanistan “very high” on the summit agenda.

Gerasimov pointed out that Reagan himself had noted in a televised interview last week that the military occupation was something Gorbachev inherited when he took office nearly three years ago, and he said “we’re trying our best” to resolve the issue.

However, U.S. officials said the Soviets apparently have not determined a way to withdraw soon--as the United States is demanding--without allowing the U.S.-backed rebels to overrun government forces and seize control.

Asymmetric Reductions

On the subject of the Soviets’ substantial superiority in conventional, non-nuclear forces in Europe, Gerasimov said that the Soviets can accept the principle of asymmetric reductions, or Soviet troop cutbacks exceeding those by the Western allies, to achieve an agreement.

Shultz, also interviewed on the Brinkley program, said the United States also will be seeking agreements on conventional forces and chemical weapons while working on the strategic arms issue.

Any agreement that called for a mutual reduction of conventional forces in Europe, Shultz said, would require consultations with North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, because “we’re talking about NATO forces. And most of the NATO forces are not U.S., and I think . . . everybody will be very slow to talk about reductions of U.S. forces.” NATO, he said, is formulating a position on the issue.

A government specialist in Soviet affairs told The Times that he expects the Soviets to eventually announce “a very major” proposal for reducing conventional forces, but he doubts Gorbachev will push such a proposal at the summit.

Gorbachev is more likely to find a European setting for such an announcement and to time it so that it might aid Reagan in his campaign to win Senate ratification of the intermediate-range missile treaty, the specialist said. Opponents of the treaty cite the Soviets’ superiority in conventional forces as a major reason for their opposition.

No Push on SDI, U.S. Hopes

U.S. officials said they hope Soviet officials do not try to push for limits on SDI at the summit, because Reagan will not accept them.

Howard H. Baker Jr., the White House chief of staff, predicted that Gorbachev, in his discussions with Reagan, will seek progress on strategic weapons cuts, “perhaps without requiring as a precondition that the President abandon SDI or reduce SDI or postpone SDI, which he’s not going to do.”

Reagan is “pressure proof” on that issue, Baker said.

Georgy A. Arbatov, the Soviets’ leading specialist on American affairs, said his government, leaving SDI aside, is “ready to make deep cuts in strategic weapons if both sides adhere to the ABM treaty.”

Although there are differing interpretations of some provisions of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, it clearly forbids deployment of missile defenses except around one site in each of the two countries. It does not prohibit research, however.

Push for START Agreement

Both Reagan and Gorbachev are determined to push for an agreement on the outlines of a strategic arms, or START, treaty that would slash by 50% their countries’ arsenals of long-range missiles. But the two sides so far have not been able to agree on the exact mix of weapons--intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines, bombers and cruise missiles--that each could maintain after the accord was reached.

U.S. officials said they expect the range of meetings and events, official and unofficial, to reflect the diversity of the summit’s topics and touch on the entire U.S.-Soviet relationship.

“We see Soviet aggression around the world to which we object, and we oppose it,” Shultz said. “So these are the things that cause the tensions. And I’m sure that they will get a lot of attention during the coming meetings.”

Soviet human rights abuses and the U.S military presence in the Persian Gulf are among the other issues expected to feature prominently in the discussions between the American and Soviet leaders, in an agenda crowded with a mixture of business sessions and official functions.

Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, are scheduled to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base, in a Maryland suburb southeast of Washington, at 4:40 p.m. (EST)--1:40 p.m. (PST)--today. They will be met by Shultz.

As the visit schedule now stands, Gorbachev will spend the entire three days in a 15-square-block area of Washington, mostly at the Soviet Embassy, the White House and the State Department.

More than 12 hours are to be spent at the White House, beginning with a formal arrival ceremony on the South Lawn on Tuesday morning and ending with a lunch in the family dining room on Thursday. Reagan will play host to Gorbachev at a state dinner Tuesday evening and then attend a dinner at the Soviet Embassy on Wednesday evening.

Other events on Gorbachev’s schedule include separate meetings with Vice President George Bush, nine senior members of the House and Senate and U.S. publishers and editors. The meetings will be held at the Soviet Embassy, an imposing granite structure that will be the Gorbachevs’ Washington residence.

THE AMERICAN SUMMIT TEAM

George P. Shultz, 66, secretary of state. . . . The senior member of the U.S. team supporting President Reagan at the Washington summit, just as he was at the President’s earlier meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Geneva in 1985 and Reyjkavik in 1986. . . . Will celebrate his 67th birthday less than a week after the summit. . . . A former university professor, began his career as an expert in labor-management relations. . . . Served President Richard M. Nixon as director of the Office of Management and Budget and secretary of labor and secretary of the Treasury. . . . Employs a patient and methodical--critics say plodding--style of step-by-step diplomacy, concentrating on details instead of striving for dramatic breakthroughs. . . . Met four times in a little more than two months with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to review all the issues expected to be raised at the summit.

Max M. Kampelman, 67, chief U.S. arms control negotiator. . . . Named to his current position in 1985, when the Soviets agreed to resume talks which they had broken off in late 1983. . . . A lawyer who once served as legislative counsel to Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.). . . . Kampelman guided the arms talks from the total deadlock that followed the Soviet walkout to the current period of seeming progress--an intermediate nuclear forces agreement and narrowed differences in the far more important strategic arms reduction talks. . . . Shuns such descriptions as “optimist” or “pessimist,” but has been resolutely upbeat in his assessment of the chances for additional arms control pacts. . . . Also served as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which was held in Madrid from 1980 to 1983.

Paul H. Nitze, 80, senior arms control adviser to the President. . . . A veteran of the Eastern Establishment. . . . Experience in top-level military and political strategy dates from World War II, when he held several key jobs, including vice chairman of the strategic bombing survey. . . . Appointed secretary of the navy by President John F. Kennedy and promoted to deputy secretary of defense by President Lyndon B. Johnson . . . A senior member of the U.S. delegation that negotiated the first strategic arms limitation agreement signed by Nixon in 1972. . . . A nominal Democrat but considered a hard-liner on arms control. . . . A leading opponent of the second strategtic arms limitation agreement signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 but never ratified by the Senate. . . . Before World War II, Nitze, a cum laude graduate of Harvard, was a successful investment banker.

Rozanne L. Ridgway, 52, assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs. . . . A career diplomat and the highest ranking woman at the State Department. . . . Has held her current position since 1985, shortly before the first Reagan-Gorbachev summit. . . . A key player in each of the summits, she has concentrated on the part of the agenda that does not focus on arms control--human rights, regional conflicts and bilateral issues. . . . Joined the foreign service in 1957, the year she graduated from Hamline University. . . . Never assigned to the embassy in Moscow, but she has become one of the U.S. government’s leading experts on the Soviet Union. . . . Served as ambassador to Finland and East Germany.

Colin L. Powell, 50, director of the National Security Council. . . . Named to his current job only last month, he is the sixth person to hold that key post during the Reagan Administration. . . . Robert C. McFarlane, the NSC director when Reagan and Gorbachev met in 1985, and John M. Poindexter, the NSC director during the last summit, are both out of government. . . . Powell, an Army lieutenant general, served as deputy NSC director for 10 months before he was promoted to the top post. . . . Previously a military aide to former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger. . . . Although he was never considered an expert on the Soviet Union, Powell’s job makes him an important member of Reagan’s summit team. . . . Has spent most of the past decade in staff jobs in Washington, but a former Pentagon official says the general loves to command troops in the field. . . . Before he was summoned to the NSC in January, Powell was considered an odds-on favorite to become the Army’s first black chief of staff.

Thomas W. Simons, Jr., 49, deputy assistant secretary of state. . . . The senior official in Washington specializing entirely on relations with the Soviet Union. . . . Son of a diplomat, he joined the foreign service in 1963 after receiving a Ph.D. degree from Harvard. . . . Previously awarded a master’s degree from Harvard and a bachelor’s from Yale. . . . With two years out in 1979-1981 to serve as political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in London, Simons has concentrated on East-West relations since he was assigned to the embassy in Warsaw in 1968. . . . Chief of the external reporting section of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1975 to 1977 and Soviet desk officer at the State Department from 1981 until he was promoted to his present assignment in 1985.

Fritz W. Ermarth, 46, the National Security Council’s director of Soviet and European affairs. . . . In that job, succeeded Jack Matlock, now ambassador to Moscow. . . . Moved to the NSC from the CIA, where he had been national intelligence officer for the Soviet Union since 1984. . . . During the Carter Administration, Ermarth worked on the NSC staff with responsibility for strategic and regional security planning. . . . Earlier in the Reagan Administration, served on special panels studying the Strategic Defense Initiative and the Soviet economy. . . . A former staff member of the Rand Corp. of Santa Monica. . . . Ermarth graduated from Wittenberg University in 1961 and received a master’s degree from Harvard in 1963.

THE SOVIET TEAM

Eduard A. Shevardnadze, 59, foreign minister. . . . A native of the republic of Georgia. . . . Succeeded Andrei A. Gromyko in 1985. . . . Has been given high marks by Western diplomats for his smooth manner, which contrasts sharply with Gromyko’s abrasive style. . . . Was regarded as totally inexperienced in foreign affairs, but this has proved useful because it has enabled him to adapt easily to Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s “new thinking” in foreign affairs without having to defend old positions. . . . A former prosecutor, first knew Gorbachev when both were top officials of the Komsomol, the Young Communist League. . . . Unlike other members of Politburo, has met with the press in Moscow and abroad, displaying charm and skill in deflecting hostile questions with soft replies.

Alexander N. Yakovlev, 65, Politburo member and chief propagandist for the Soviet government. . . . Known as a close friend and adviser to Gorbachev. . . . Served as ambassador to Canada and studied briefly, in 1959, at New York’s Columbia University. . . . A leading Kremlin specialist on the United States, known for hard-line, anti-Western views. . . . “Not a friend of ours,” according to a U.S. diplomat who studies his speeches. . . . For 25 years an instructor in propaganda . . . Credited with shaping Gorbachev’s image as a reasonable, approachable leader, “a man you can do business with,” in British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s words. . . . At recent press conference, disappointed Moscow correspondents with near-total lack of glasnost, or candor, on major issues.

Marshal Sergei F. Akhromeyev, 64, armed forces chief of staff. . . . A key player in ironing out final details of the agreement on intermediate-range weapons. . . . Perhaps the Americans’ favorite negotiator on the Soviet side. . . . Has a reputation for knowing his subject and getting straight to the point with a minimum of ideological rhetoric. . . . “He knows those missiles inside out,” an admiring U.S. diplomat has said of him. . . . A World War II tank officer, he spent 30 years working his way up through regimental and divisional commands. . . . Describes himself as “the last of the Mohicans,” because he is one of few World War II veterans still on active duty. . . . Named deputy chief of staff in 1974. . . . Communist Party member since 1943. . . . Became candidate member of Central Committee in 1981 and one of its 300 full members two years later, when he was promoted to marshal.

Anatoly F. Dobrynin, 68, Communist Party secretary. . . . Became a familiar figure in Washington during the quarter-century he spent there as Soviet ambassador and, for many years, dean of the diplomatic corps. . . . A devotee of American fast food who also knows U.S. politics perhaps better than any other Soviet official. . . . Was recalled to Moscow to take an influential post as head of the party’s International Department. . . . Earned a reputation in Washington as a skillful behind-the-scenes operator with good contacts among the political elite. . . . Believed by Western diplomats to represent a moderating influence in foreign policy. . . . Fluent in English.

Vladimir M. Kamentsev, 59, deputy prime minister and chief of the International Economic Affairs and Contact Department. . . . Regarded as Gorbachev’s key adviser on foreign economic affairs. . . . Appointed minister of the fishing industry in 1979 after his predecessor was ousted because of a caviar-smuggling scandal. . . . Elevated to the Central Committee in 1986. . . . Involved, according to Western diplomatic sources, in the sale of Soviet weapons to countries with pro-Moscow leanings. . . . Described by one source as “extraordinarily frank and open and knowledgeable . . . likes to get business done . . . a straight-shooter as a negotiator.”

Georgy A. Arbatov, 64, for 20 years director of the Institute for Study of the U.S.A. and Canada. . . . Member of the Central Committee since 1981. . . . Forecasts not invariably accurate. . . . Failed to foresee 1980 election victory of Ronald Reagan and rise of the Republican right. . . . At his institute, English-speaking scholars sift through mountains of American newspapers, magazines and TV tapes in effort to keep abreast of events in the country Soviets consider most important--and most threatening. . . . Arbatov appears often on American TV and, according to his critics, has become more of a propagandist than an analyst.

Gennady I. Gerasimov, early 50s, chief Foreign Ministry spokesman. . . . Has taken a back seat to party officials at two previous Reagan-Gorbachev meetings, but may play a more prominent role in Washington. . . . Debonair, he spent 10 years as a journalist in the United States and speaks fluent English. . . . At times has to struggle to control his sense of humor . . . . At a recent briefing compared ousted Moscow party boss Boris N. Yeltsin to Caesar’s Brutus, then backed off when it was noted that this cast Gorbachev as Caesar. . . . Known in Moscow as one of the few Soviet officials who returns correspondents’ phone calls, which makes him popular even though he is sometimes imprecise about details.

Yevgeny P. Velikhov, 52, vice president of the Academy of Sciences. . . . Physicist and scientific adviser to Gorbachev. . . . Active on many fronts in the sciences and in public life. . . . Sent to Chernobyl last year to help find solutions to the nuclear power plant disaster. . . . Flew over the radioactive core half a dozen times. . . . Has been deeply involved in effort to perfect detection of underground nuclear explosions as part of drive to halt nuclear testing. . . . Also has been trying to bring the Soviet Union into the Computer Age. . . . Joined the Communist Party relatively late in life but nevertheless has been named a candidate member of the Central Committee. . . . Speaks English.

Fyodor M. Burlatsky, 60, political commentator for Literary Gazette and consultant to the Central Committee. . . . Regarded as one of the Moscow liberals. . . . Calls himself a member of the “Khrushchev Generation” that matured in the mid-1950s when de-Stalinization was at its height under Nikita S. Khrushchev. . . . Accompanied Khrushchev on tour of the United States in 1959 and wrote speeches for him. . . . More recently has written a play on the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 that portrays the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy as a heroic figure who averted nuclear catastrophe. . . . Also has written a play dramatizing the economic arguments between pro-Stalin elements in the party and rivals associated with Nikolai I. Bukharin, who was executed in 1938.