Reagan Arrives in Finland en Route to Summit : Says U.S., Soviets ‘Can Still Work Together to Keep Peace’ Despite Differences

President Reagan, on a journey that will carry him to the first summit of U.S. and Soviet leaders on Russian soil in nearly 14 years, arrived in this northern capital early this morning after declaring that despite the “deep differences” between the United States and the Soviet Union, “we can still work together to keep the peace.”

Air Force One, carrying the President and First Lady Nancy Reagan, landed at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, north of the Finnish capital on the Baltic Sea, at 1:10 a.m. (3:10 p.m. PDT Wednesday). Because of the hour, the Reagans were given a low-key, pro forma welcome by President Mauno Koivisto and his wife, Tellervo.

They will receive a more formal welcome Friday, marking the official segment of the President’s visit here, when he will confer with Koivisto.

Barrage of Questions

Reagan, wearing a black topcoat, walked slowly down the steps of the plane and was greeted by a barrage of shouted questions concerning negotiations with Panama’s strongman, Manuel A. Noriega. He replied that Secretary of State George P. Shultz already had made a statement about the failure of talks to get Noriega to step down from power, but that U.S. policy remains unchanged.

Asked if Noriega should have accepted a deal to drop drug indictments against him in exchange for relinquishing power, Reagan called out, “Yes, I think he should have.”

After a brief meeting in an airport lounge with the Finnish president and his wife, the Reagans drove off in the presidential limousine to a government guest house for the night.

The stay in neutral Finland is but a prelude to the centerpiece of Reagan’s 10-day journey: his arrival Sunday in Moscow and the more than six hours of meetings he is scheduled to hold with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev at the Kremlin.

Those meetings have been the focus of activity at the White House in recent weeks--even as Reagan’s aides wrestled with the effort to remove Noriega from power and with a Congress now seeking to pass a comprehensive trade bill over Reagan’s veto.

Beyond these immediate problems, White House strategists recognize that, with the presidential primary campaign nearing an end and the focus of national attention shifting toward the race to elect the next president, the journey to Moscow reflects one of the few remaining areas in which Reagan can play a dominant role in major events--namely, the U.S.-Soviet relationship.

And although further summits are possible, the five meetings the two leaders have scheduled before the conclusion of the summit next Thursday--reflecting the extent of the improvement in ties between Moscow and Washington--may be the last chance for Reagan to put his mark on East-West relations.

“My goal is to bequeath to my successor next January the firm basis for a stable, sustainable relationship with the Soviet Union,” Reagan said in a written response to questions posed by journalists from Southeast Asia that was made public by the White House on Wednesday.

Review Relations

While the long-sought treaty to reduce by 50% the superpowers’ arsenals of nuclear weapons has remained out of reach--at least during this summit, if not for the remainder of the Reagan term--Reagan and Gorbachev are expected to review the broad scope of East-West relations and U.S.-Soviet differences on such regional issues as the guerrilla war in Soviet-supported Angola.

At a send-off from the White House on Wednesday morning, Reagan, sketching an upbeat forecast for the journey despite the longstanding antagonisms that have marked his relations with the Soviet Union, said:

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

Moral Differences

“We have many differences--deep differences, moral differences. But we are still fellow human beings. We can still work together to keep the peace,” he said on the rain-drenched South Lawn of the White House, adding:

“And in working with the Soviet Union, the United States can still remain true to its mission of expanding liberty throughout the world.”

The summit in Moscow will be the fourth Reagan has had with Gorbachev--more than any other American chief executive has conducted with his Soviet counterpart--and will be the first visit by an American President to Moscow since Richard M. Nixon traveled there in late June, 1974, as the Watergate scandal neared its climax. Five months later, President Gerald R. Ford conferred with then-Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev in Vladivostok.

Reagan first met Gorbachev in Geneva, in November, 1985. Since then, the President said, the two nations have “come a long way.”

‘Safer World’

“My task next week will be to go still farther: Farther in the interests of peace. Farther toward a universal respect for fundamental human rights. Farther toward world freedom. Farther toward a safer world for all people,” the President said, reflecting the theme of greater progress toward global security that has been developed by the White House for this summit conference.

Pointing to signs of progress, Reagan said that since his first meeting with Gorbachev, the Soviets have begun to withdraw the first of the estimated 115,000 troops deployed in Afghanistan, the two superpowers have signed a treaty eliminating their ground-launched medium-range nuclear missiles and “we have made progress on the main points” of a treaty to halve each side’s long-range, or strategic, nuclear weapons.

Reagan also saluted what is viewed by the Administration as a more relaxed approach to human rights issues in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev.

He said more is required, but he made his point in mild language that stepped back from his past harsh denunciations of Soviet conduct in this area. He pledged to press the Soviet leader to make permanent the recent reforms that have led to increased levels of emigration, the release of some political and religious prisoners, the reunification of some divided families and the easing of restrictions on religious practices.

On Tuesday, Rozanne L. Ridgway, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said that she was “confident subject No. 1 is going to be human rights” and that Reagan would most likely address it during his first session with Gorbachev on Sunday afternoon.

22nd Trip

The journey that Reagan began Wednesday is the 22nd foreign trip of his presidency.

Mindful of the rigors of long-distance travel across multiple time zones, White House assistants scheduled few events in Finland for the 77-year-old President--leaving today’s schedule empty, for example.

On Friday, after an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace and a luncheon given by Koivisto, the President is to deliver what officials have described as a major address on human rights and other summit issues in Finlandia Hall, site of the signing in 1975 of the Helsinki human rights declaration.