Shultz and Shevardnadze: One More Talk

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze will open his 28th round of talks with Secretary of State George P. Shultz here today, probably the last negotiations between the Kremlin and the Reagan Administration.

Shevardnadze and Shultz will emphasize continuity in U.S.-Soviet relations, U.S. officials said, and are not likely to break new ground.

Officials expressed some hope for arms control advances--on strategic arms reductions, the controversial Soviet radar installation at Krasnoyarsk and a reduction of conventional forces in Europe. The absence of military Chief of Staff Sergei F. Akhromeyev from the Soviet party makes major progress on the first two issues doubtful, but new impetus might be given to starting talks on reducing the numbers of Warsaw Pact and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops facing each other in Europe.

Meets With Reagan on Friday

The two-day session will “emphasize continuity and process in the relationship,” Assistant Secretary of State Rozanne L. Ridgway said.

Other officials said Moscow wants to complete as much business as possible with this Administration, while the Administration wants to keep up arms control momentum in order to facilitate the work of its successor.

Shevardnadze will meet Friday with President Reagan. Vice President George Bush, at his request, is expected to meet with the Soviet official sometime during the visit, Ridgway said. A spokesman for Michael S. Dukakis of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential candidate, said that Dukakis has no plans to meet with Shevardnadze.

Both sides at the Moscow summit in May wrote off chances of completing a strategic arms reduction treaty this year, in which long-range offensive nuclear weapons would be reduced by about 50%. But as they continue working toward a joint text of such an agreement, U.S. officials said, differences could be narrowed now on such relatively technical issues as air-launched cruise missiles.

In assessing arsenals on both sides, the Soviets want to count every bomber as carrying its maximum possible load of cruise missiles--20 to 22 on a B-52, for example. The United States wants to count only the average number of such missiles each bomber carries--eight to 10. At present, the United States has more and better bombers and air-launched cruise missiles, so the Soviet counting method would more severely constrict the number of such weapons the United States could retain under the numerical limits of a treaty.

If the Soviets accept the U.S. approach, some consensus on this technical point might be possible, U.S. officials said.

Discuss Radar Station

The huge Soviet radar installation at Krasnoyarsk, which the United States insists is illegal under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, will be discussed. But the Administration appears to be in no mood to give the Soviets any significant concessions in exchange for a Soviet promise to dismantle it.

Supported overwhelmingly by Congress and both presidential candidates, the Administration wants the Krasnoyarsk installation--two 10-story buildings--dismantled and the foundations broken up before any new arms agreement is signed.

The Soviets, seeking a way out of an obvious blunder, have proposed several face-saving compromises. But the Administration wants to wipe out the lead time the Krasnoyarsk facility represents--five to seven years--for Soviet development of a “battle management” radar, a U.S. official said. Battle management radars at interior sites are forbidden by the ABM treaty. Such facilities are permitted only on the border and facing outward. The Krasnoyarsk station is about 3,000 miles from the nearest Soviet border.

Compromise ideas on Krasnoyarsk have surfaced recently. One calls for negotiating a set of rules for building such radar facilities in the future, including notice of where and when the construction would occur, in exchange for demolishing the present radar station. This has already been rejected by the Reagan Administration but might be considered by a Dukakis or Bush administration, U.S. officials suggested.

Starting negotiations on reductions in conventional forces in Europe, a major focus in this week’s talks, has been emphasized by both the Bush and Dukakis campaigns as the two candidates look beyond the Reagan Administration.

Human Rights Issues

If significant progress on the issue is achieved at this session, Shultz and Shevardnadze could meet again before the end of the year, officials said.

Negotiations on conventional forces depend on a successful end of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a periodic forum to monitor observance of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. Human rights issues are the main obstacles to wrapping up the conference, which has been going on in Vienna for the last two years, officials said.

Before recessing the conference, the United States and its West European allies want to see improved Soviet performance in releasing political and religious prisoners, including five Soviet citizens who were part of the original Helsinki Monitoring Group in Moscow in 1977, U.S. officials said. They also want to see higher immigration rates and the codifying of recent Soviet human rights reforms into law.