Politburo Tells U.S. to Back Off on Confrontational Approach

The ruling Soviet Politburo today warned the United States to drop what it called “attempts to impose its views and values on others” ahead of next month’s superpower summit.

In a statement published by the official Tass press agency, the Politburo said the Soviet leadership was prepared to make the efforts necessary for the May 29-June 2 Moscow meeting to produce major, concrete results.

“Of course, this also requires a corresponding reciprocal striving from the American side, its readiness to take account of political realities, to thoroughly weigh the measure of its responsibility before the world and to give up attempts to impose its views and values on others,” it said.

U.S. ‘Lecturing’ Rapped

The Politburo warning followed accusations by Kremlin leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev last week that Washington had been lecturing Moscow on policy and taking a confrontational approach on subjects like human rights.

His comments appeared clearly aimed at President Reagan, who earlier in the week had spoken of a “wall of oppression” in the Soviet Union and said he will call on Gorbachev to dismantle it when the two meet in Moscow.

The White House and Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who met Gorbachev in Moscow last week, sought to play down the importance of the Soviet criticism and said it would be wrong to think superpower relations were on a rocky course ahead of the summit.

The Politburo statement appeared designed to drive home the view that the Kremlin will not tolerate U.S. criticism of its domestic policy at a time when the superpowers are engaged in major arms control negotiations.