Reagan Off for Summit, Set for ‘Plenty of Work’

President Reagan, who once branded the Soviet Union an evil empire, embarked today on his first trip to Moscow, saying superpower relations have “come a long way” since his 1985 face-off with Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Geneva.

At a White House departure ceremony held under dark skies and a steady rain, the President gave a mostly sunny assessment of relations between Moscow and Washington. But he acknowledged that “we have many differences--deep differences.”

“There will be plenty of work for Mr. Gorbachev and me in Moscow next week,” Reagan said. “I do not expect it to be easy.”

Without Ratification Papers

The President and his wife Nancy then left for Helsinki, Finland, the first leg of their 10-day, 10,705-mile journey.

Reagan took off without the instruments of ratification for the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, which he and Gorbachev signed at their meeting in Washington last December.

Senate leaders hope to win approval of the pact by week’s end so it can be rushed to Moscow for a ceremonial exchange of treaty-ratification documents with Gorbachev.

Reagan is scheduled to arrive in Moscow at mid-afternoon on Sunday for a four-day summit expected to be short on substance and long on ceremony. He had conceded beforehand that there was virtually no likelihood of a breakthrough on a long-range missile accord.

First Soviet Trip

Reagan, 77, has never visited the Soviet Union, although he spent much of his long career speaking of America’s challenges in the face of rising Soviet power.

Reflecting on his three previous summits with Gorbachev, beginning with the November, 1985, meeting in Geneva, the President said in his remarks today: “We have come a long way since then.”

However, he said: “We have many differences--deep differences, moral differences. But we are still fellow human beings. We can still work together to keep the peace.”