Summit Set for May 29 in Moscow : But Superpowers Still Are Split Over Arms Pact, Afghan Issues

President Reagan agreed Wednesday to visit Moscow for five days of talks with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev starting May 29, although exhaustive pre-summit meetings have failed to narrow the superpower gap on issues ranging from arms control to Afghanistan.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze slogged their way through the prospective summit agenda during three days of meetings that ended with a marathon 11-hour session Wednesday, but they were able to agree on little more than the date for the fourth Reagan-Gorbachev meeting.

Shultz and Shevardnadze said they would meet in Moscow on April 21-25 and again in the middle of May at an undetermined location to continue trying to reach agreements that Reagan and Gorbachev can ratify at the summit.

Despite the slender possibility that Reagan and Gorbachev will have any major agreements to sign, the President decided to push ahead with the summit meeting.

He will become the first U.S. chief executive to visit the Soviet Union in almost 14 years, since Gerald R. Ford met with then-Kremlin leader Leonid I. Brezhnev at the port city of Vladivostok in 1974. In the summer of that year, Richard M. Nixon met with Brezhnev in Moscow.

Shultz told a press conference Wednesday night that many U.S.-Soviet differences remain, although he and Shevardnadze said in a joint communique that they have instructed arms control negotiators to try to complete work on a strategic arms reduction treaty “at the earliest possible date, preferably in time for signature” at the Moscow summit.

“I can’t point to any particular outcome except that through this kind of discussion, each side becomes more realistic,” Shultz said.

‘Enough Political Will’

Shevardnadze, in his own news conference, said: “I cannot guarantee that a treaty will be signed in Moscow, but this is possible, this is a possibility . . . given enough political will.”

But the foreign minister acknowledged that his talks with Shultz were not “smooth and peaceful.” He denounced “numerous loud speeches” about Soviet superiority in conventional arms in Europe and accused the United States of apparently not being interested in negotiating.

Reagan and Gorbachev have already agreed in principle to seek a pact cutting in half the superpower arsenals of nuclear weapons with ranges of more than 3,400 miles. However, the two sides are in dispute over critical details, and U.S. officials were skeptical that work on a strategic arms reduction agreement could be completed in time.

Hammer Out Details

The President himself has publicly expressed doubts that a treaty would be ready before the summit, believing that there is not enough time to hammer out the details. When asked Wednesday what the meeting would achieve in the absence of such a pact, he said only: “There are a number of other subjects that we continue to discuss with each other.”

In particular, the two sides remained far apart on space and defensive weapons. Moscow is no longer trying to hold hostage the talks on offensive arms reductions until it can obtain limitations on the Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative, but the issues continue to be closely related.

During their summit last December, Reagan and Gorbachev attempted to paper over their differences on SDI, known also as the “Star Wars” anti-missile defense program. They agreed that each side would “observe the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty, as signed in 1972, while conducting their research, development and testing as required.”

Squabbles Began

But almost as soon as Gorbachev’s plane left Washington, the two nations began to squabble about whether that formula would permit the United States to test space-based defense systems such as SDI.

Shultz said he and Shevardnadze discussed the matter again Wednesday, adding that “we were frank with each other that we do have different understandings as to what that means.” He said they were unable to break the impasse.

In addition to arms control, the summit agenda includes other traditional items: human rights, regional issues and bilateral issues.

En route to Moscow, Reagan is expected to stop in Helsinki, Finland, where he will make a summit scene-setting speech and possibly focus on the human rights issue. White House officials are also considering whether to seek meetings between Reagan and Soviet dissidents and refuseniks.

The President will leave Washington on May 26 or 27. Just as Gorbachev had stayed in Washington during the length of the last summit meeting in December, Reagan will remain in Moscow until his trip ends June 2.

Short, Businesslike Trip

At one point, Reagan had considered touring the Soviet Union, but U.S. officials decided to keep the visit short and businesslike. But the President, who will be accompanied by Nancy Reagan, may attend a performance by the Bolshoi ballet.

On his return, Reagan will brief British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and other allies in London.

It remained unclear, however, what the President has to look forward to at his meeting with Gorbachev. Aside from arms control, Shultz and Shevardnadze apparently made very little progress on the other issues on the summit agenda.

The secretary of state said Shevardnadze rebuffed a U.S. proposal to paper over an increasingly acrimonious dispute over Afghanistan.

Shultz and Shevardnadze said the disagreement will not prevent Moscow from withdrawing its estimated 115,000 to 120,000 troops from Afghanistan before the end of this year but, unless the impasse is broken soon, both superpowers plan to continue arming and supplying surrogate forces in the Afghan civil war.

Suspend Shipments

Shultz said the United States proposed that Washington and Moscow suspend weapons shipments to Afghan factions while the Soviet troops are being withdrawn. But he said Shevardnadze replied that the Soviet Union would never renounce its right to provide military aid to the Afghan government and its army.

Under the terms of an agreement taking shape in talks being mediated by the United Nations in Geneva, the United States and Pakistan would end their support of the anti-Communist moujahedeen rebels once the Soviet troops are sent home. However, Shultz said the United States will not endorse the pact unless the Soviets end their aid to the Afghan army at the same time.

“We will continue to stand by those we have been supporting,” Shultz said.

Shevardnadze said the dispute will not affect Moscow’s decision to withdraw its troops, although other Soviet officials said that the Soviet Union will set its own conditions for the pullout unless a satisfactory agreement is reached at the U.N. talks in Geneva.

‘Firm Decision’

“Yes, we are withdrawing from Afghanistan,” Shevardnadze said at the White House. “This is a firm decision. . . . There are just a very few questions remaining there, and I think they can be resolved.”

The Geneva talks came close to agreement earlier this year but have bogged down. The talks involve the Afghan government and Pakistan, the host to Afghan rebels and thousands of refugees fleeing the Marxist regime in Kabul, but the Soviet and U.S. “observer” teams hold much of the real power.

On Central America, Shultz said Shevardnadze rejected a U.S. demand that the Soviet Union stop sending weapons to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Earlier, Moscow had said it would stop sending most arms to the Managua government if the United States ended its military support for the Contras.