The Washington Summit : Gorbachev Focuses on Long-Range Missiles : Arriving in Capital, He Challenges Reagan to Provide ‘New Words’ on Reduction Proposals

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev arrived here Monday for the summit and, immediately upon setting foot on American soil, challenged President Reagan to discuss new proposals for slashing long-range nuclear missiles.

Alighting from his blue-and-white Ilyushin 62 jetliner under clear but chilly skies, Gorbachev declared: “We have something to say to the American leaders, to the President of the United States, and we are hoping that we will hear some new words on their side.”

Gorbachev and Reagan will discuss a host of other world problems during their three days of meetings, which begin this morning. And this afternoon, they will sign a treaty banning ground-launched, medium-range nuclear missiles, which constitute about 4% of the superpowers’ nuclear weapons.

But Gorbachev made it clear that reducing the number of long-range missiles would be the “pivotal” issue in his sessions with the President. The two leaders have agreed in principle to cut by half the superpowers’ awesome long-range missile arsenals.

Although Reagan has given no indication that he plans to offer new proposals on a long-range missile treaty, he told reporters before Gorbachev’s arrival Monday that he remains optimistic a treaty can be completed in time for signing at another summit that the two sides hope to schedule in Moscow next May or June.

Later, after a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony at the White House, reporters asked Reagan whether he would have any “new words” for Gorbachev.

“He’ll hear them in the morning,” the President replied.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters: “There are areas in which new ideas can flourish. I don’t want to prejudge how the talks will go. But we’re willing to bargain, and we’re willing to talk.”

Gorbachev, accompanied by his wife, Raisa, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and a large delegation of top officials, arrived at nearby Andrews Air Force Base, Md., precisely on schedule at 4:40 p.m. (EST).

“Welcome to the United States of America--we are delighted to have you here,” Secretary of State George P. Shultz told the 56-year-old Soviet leader, who was clad in a gray coat, with a hat and scarf, as he stepped from the jetliner. His wife wore an elegant silver fur coat.

In brief remarks, Gorbachev said: “On behalf of the people and the government of the Soviet Union, I wish to assure all Americans that we sincerely want better relations between our countries and peoples.

“I have arrived in your country on this visit to complete work and to sign the treaty on the elimination of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles, thus completing work on the question which all of . . . the nations of the world have been looking to us to do.”

Apart from nuclear arms control, Gorbachev said, “we will be discussing other world problems, too, of course, problems which are of concern to the nations. . . . We can neither of us shirk the role that we are to play in world affairs.”

The very fact that he and Reagan are meeting for the third time in three years, he said, points “to the increased responsibility and understanding of that responsibility devolving upon the . . . leaders of the Soviet Union and the leaders of the United States of America.”

As Gorbachev arrived, top Soviet officials appeared confident that progress would be made here and that another summit would be scheduled for Moscow next year.

More Guarded in Optimism

American officials were more guarded in their optimism despite Reagan’s public comments. Shultz and Fitzwater stressed that negotiations for the treaty would be complicated and time-consuming, and neither held out much promise that a pact could be completed in time for a Moscow signing ceremony.

Immediately after the brief welcoming ceremonies, Gorbachev and his Soviet party were whisked away in a huge, heavily protected motorcade to the Soviet Embassy, about four blocks from the White House. Massive security precautions have been taken for Gorbachev’s visit, and several blocks around the embassy have been cordoned off and put under heavy police protection.

The Gorbachevs met with Shultz and his wife, Helena, for tea at the embassy Monday evening, but no formal summit sessions are scheduled until 10:30 a.m. today, when Gorbachev and Reagan meet at the White House for the first of four scheduled one-on-one sessions.

‘Survey of Whole Agenda’

The initial session, Fitzwater said, will be “a survey of the whole agenda, looking for areas of agreement and disagreement.” In addition, he said, there will be a brief review of the negotiations that led to the treaty on ground-launched medium-range nuclear weapons, with an eye toward lessons that can be applied to the forthcoming talks on long-range missiles.

Even before the formal summit sessions, Shultz and Shevardnadze met Monday evening for 45 minutes of preparatory talks. A senior State Department officials said afterward that Shultz complained that the required photo supplied by the Soviets of one of their medium-range missiles, the SS-20, was unsatisfactory. But the official said the problem will not interfere with today’s signing of the treaty banning those missiles.

Doesn’t Mind Taking Risks

Gorbachev’s challenge to Reagan upon his arrival here suggested that he may live up to his reputation as a bold leader who does not mind taking risks or springing surprises. Earlier today, at a joint press briefing with Fitzwater, Soviet spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov refused to predict the course that Gorbachev may follow in the summit talks.

“I don’t want to preempt the dialogue,” he said. He added with a smile: “But you know he is a man of surprises.”

Col. Gen. Nikolai F. Chervov, a Soviet Defense Ministry spokesman and member of the delegation, said in an interview that Gorbachev is prepared to offer specific proposals on a number of issues, including not only long-range nuclear missiles but also the withdrawal of about 115,000 Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

On arms control, Chervov said Gorbachev would unveil a new plan concerning verification of compliance with any treaty banning or limiting submarine-launched cruise missiles--one of the sticking issues at the October, 1986, summit talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Cruise Missile Threat

The United States is currently in the process of arming submarines and surface ships with cruise missiles, low-flying weapons that can penetrate all known defensive systems and deliver nuclear warheads with extraordinary accuracy. And they pose severe verification problems because their small size, compared with intercontinental ballistic missiles, makes them extremely difficult to detect, even by spy satellites.

Chervov also said that if Reagan and Gorbachev approved the main outlines of a a new agreement on long-range missiles, it would take “at most five to six months to get a treaty ready for signing.”

On Afghanistan, which the Soviets have occupied for nearly eight years in the face of continuous guerrilla opposition, Chervov said Gorbachev would offer a three-part proposal:

-- That both the United States and the Soviet Union support U.N. efforts to achieve a political settlement.

-- That there be a one-year moratorium on military supplies from the United States and other countries to the rebels.

-- That the Soviets then begin withdrawing their troops.

The rebels have already rejected the idea of a moratorium on military supplies, however.

Times staff writers William J. Eaton and Norman Kempster contributed to this article.

THE TEN-YEAR ROAD TO THE INF ACCORD Early 1977:The Soviet Union begins deploying SS-20 missiles in its European territory. The three-warhead missiles have a range of 3,100 miles and are capable of hitting targets anywhere in Europe.

October, 1977: West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt warns that the new Soviet missiles threaten Europe and calls on North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations to address the problem.

December, 1979: NATO unanimously adopts a “dual track” strategy to counter the SS-20 threat. Deployment of 572 U.S. Pershing 2 ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles is to be accompanied by arms control talks with the Soviet Union to reduce intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) to equal levels. The Soviet Union has 130 SS-20s deployed at this time.

July, 1980: The Soviets announce they are willing to join the United States in INF talks.

November, 1981: President Reagan announces the “double-zero option,” under which the United States would cancel its planned missile deployments if the Soviets removed all nuclear missiles from Europe. French and British nuclear forces would not be included, nor would U.S. nuclear-capable aircraft. On the last day of the month, formal INF talks begin in Geneva.

June, 1982: In an informal “walk in the woods” in Geneva, American INF negotiator Paul H. Nitze and his Soviet counterpart, Yuli Kvitsinsky, discuss limiting each side to 75 INF launchers in Europe, halting deployment of U.S. Pershing 2 missiles and freezing Soviet SS-20 deployments in Soviet territory in Asia. The U.S. and Soviet governments reject the proposal.

November, 1983: The United States, while repeating its preference for the “double-zero option,” proposes a global ceiling of 420 warheads on INF missiles. The first U.S. ground-launched cruise missiles arrive in West Germany, accompanied by widespread protests by European opponents of U.S. nuclear forces. The Soviets promptly walk out of the INF negotiations.

January, 1985: Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko meet in Geneva and agree to resume INF talks.

March, 1985: INF negotiations reconvene in Geneva.

April, 1985: Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev announces a unilateral freeze on INF missile deployments and proposes to set limits on future deployments at levels equal to French and British INF forces. The United States rejects the plan.

November, 1985: At the Geneva summit, President Reagan and Gorbachev announce they support “the idea of an interim INF agreement.”

January, 1986: Gorbachev sends Reagan a letter proposing the elimination of all nuclear weapons over a 15-year period. Gorbachev also proposes to advance the INF talks by agreeing to exempt British and French missiles from limits on European INF missiles, although he demands that they be frozen at current levels.

March, 1986: The United States rejects the Gorbachev proposal and proposes a plan to eliminate all medium-range nuclear weapons from Europe by 1990.

October, 1986: At the summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, Reagan and Gorbachev agree to a global ceiling of 100 intermediate-range missile warheads for each side, with none in Europe. The Soviet Union could place the missiles on its Asian territory, while the United States could keep 100 INF warheads outside Europe. The deal fails when the Soviets link an INF accord to U.S. limits on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), or “Star Wars” program.

February, 1987: Gorbachev drops the Soviet insistence that an INF agreement be linked to SDI.

April, 1987: Shultz visits Moscow and announces that agreement on INF is near. The U.S. and Soviet positions remain that each side will be allowed 100 medium-range missiles.

July, 1987: Gorbachev announces a major change in the Soviet position, accepting the “double-zero” plan proposed by the United States in 1981. He also agrees to eliminate the Soviets’ relatively short-range INF weapons--a category of weapons that the United States does not possess. Reagan indicates that effective verification of compliance is now the only obstacle to an agreement.

August, 1987: Soviet negotiators demand that West Germany dismantle its 72 relatively short-range Pershing 1-A missiles as part of the INF accord. The United States rejects the demand, but West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl later accepts it.

September, 1987: Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze announce that the two countries have reached agreement in principle on an INF treaty. Intensive sessions on verification proposals resume in Geneva.

October, 1987: The United States and the Soviet Union set Dec. 7-10 as the dates for a summit at which the INF treaty will be signed.