More <i> Glasnost</i> : Supreme Soviet Is Televised

Soviet television brought glasnost to the seat of Soviet power today when it broadcast live a session of the Supreme Soviet with officials urging ratification of the treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

In an unprecedented move, state TV ran two hours of the session held in the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal parliament.

Speaking under the gold hammer and sickle seal of the Soviet Union, top officials called for the treaty’s ratification but questioned the trustworthiness of the United States.

Kremlin No. 2 man Yegor K. Ligachev, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze and Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov all backed the document in their speeches to the Foreign Relations Commission of the Supreme Soviet.

Yazov promised the public that no country would ever gain military superiority over the Soviet Union.

“We prepared profoundly and comprehensively,” he said of the treaty. “Each word and each figure in it were most thoroughly studied and checked.”

The commission must make a recommendation to the Presidium, which has the final decision on ratification. The treaty, signed by President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Washington on Dec. 8, already has been approved by the ruling Communist Party, so its passage is assured.

Shevardnadze praised the treaty, which eliminates from Europe missiles with a range of 300 to 3,000 miles, as a “balance of security, a balance of interests.”

The pact “would not have been possible if the United States at crucial stages had not displayed a sense of realism and a willingness to find mutually acceptable solutions,” he said.

Major newspapers published the schedule of the live broadcast, another manifestation of Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost , or more openness, on some issues. In the past, hearings of Soviet government committees have been held behind closed doors.