Tourist’s View of N.Y. on Soviet Chief’s Agenda

Because of the need for stringent security, the isolated Coast Guard base on Governors Island in New York Harbor, a five-minute ferry ride from Wall Street, has been chosen as the site for talks next week between Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, President Reagan and President-elect George Bush.

Gorbachev, who is expected to arrive at Kennedy Airport with his wife, Raisa, on Tuesday afternoon, will address the U.N. General Assembly the following day and is planning to hold a news conference at U.N. headquarters on the East Side of Manhattan, Soviet planners said Tuesday.

The Gorbachevs also are hoping for, in the words of a key Soviet aide, “maximum contact” with ordinary New Yorkers, including visits to at least one museum and a department store.

The Soviet leader and his party also may view New York’s dramatic skyline, like millions of tourists, from atop the 110-story World Trade Center. A reception for a cross-section of New York’s leaders is projected at the Soviet U.N. Mission. The guest list has been drawn up, but invitations have not yet been sent out.

With little fanfare, advance parties of Soviet and American diplomats and security agents have been hard at work mapping out the four-day itinerary. Gorbachev will stay at the white brick Soviet Mission in Manhattan.

At the luncheon meeting, which may be held in the Coast Guard commandant’s house on the 178-acre military base, Soviet diplomats are scheduling discussion of the touchy topic of Afghanistan and a “comprehensive” range of other U.S.-Soviet issues.

Although Moscow has begun fulfilling its pledge to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, the pullout has been suspended amid mutual recriminations. Washington has charged that Soviet aircraft and Scud missiles are being used against rebel forces, while Soviet diplomats have demanded a cessation of U.S. arms shipments to Afghan guerrillas.

The 34 members of the Soviet advance party, which arrived in New York in two waves, have quietly considered a variety of sites for the Gorbachevs to visit, including Saks and Bloomingdale’s, the big Manhattan department stores. Under consideration for the museum visit are the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney Museum on upper Madison Avenue near the Soviet mission on East 67th Street.

May Visit Stock Exchnge

They are also considering a visit to the New York Stock Exchange, the seat of American capitalism, but security agents are worried about the narrowness of the old streets in the Wal66l Street area.

There is a possibility that Gorbachev will meet with a delegation of leading bankers and financiers and perhaps open a Soviet commercial exhibition before he leaves for Havana on Dec. 9.

Gorbachev will be the first Soviet leader since Nikita S. Khrushchev to visit Manhattan. Khrushchev was greeted by massive protests by angry refugee groups during his stormy 1960 visit. At one point, he angrily pounded his shoe on a desk during a U.N. debate.

Governors Island, which has the atmosphere of a quiet small town in the midst of New York City, has been the site of sensitive negotiations before. Recently, secret talks among South Africa, Angola, Cuba and the United States over the future of South-West Africa took place on the island, which offers a spectacular view of the Statue of Liberty.

During the Statue of Liberty’s centennial celebration over the July 4 weekend in 1986, the island was the site of major festivities, including a meeting between Reagan and French President Francois Mitterrand.

Soviet security agents expressed fears about the safety of helicopter flights in Manhattan’s congested air space and favored boat travel for the Gorbachevs from the United Nations to the island.

Governors Island has a rich history of its own. It is the oldest military installation in continuous service in the United States. Its fortifications changed hands several times during the Revolutionary War. And in the Civil War it was a prison camp for Confederate soldiers.

Arriving in New York ahead of Gorbachev , reflecting the importance attached to the visit, will be a charter planer bringing more than 80 Soviet and foreign correspondents.