Raisa Rivalry Blamed on Cultural Differences

First Lady Nancy Reagan says cultural differences may account for her frosty relations with Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the Soviet leader.

Asked in an interview whether she found Mrs. Gorbachev to be rude, Mrs. Reagan replied: “By our standards, I suppose, yes. Now, by her standards, it might not be.”

The two women spent brief but noticeably testy periods together in Geneva, Washington and Moscow during President Reagan’s summit meetings with Mikhail S. Gorbachev. In his book about the White House, former chief of staff Donald T. Regan reported that Mrs. Reagan, upset that Mrs. Gorbachev seemed to be lecturing the President at a dinner, once fumed: “Who does that dame think she is?”

In the interview, Mrs. Reagan said that “it’s been a long time since there was any kind of rapprochement between the two countries, so that probably there was a little self-consciousness on everybody’s part” during their meetings.

“It’s just coming from two completely different cultures and trying to get together for the first time and maybe one not understanding how the other works,” she added. “I think there was way too much attention paid about that whole thing.”