Arms Uranium Output Ending, Gorbachev Says

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev ended a whirlwind visit to Britain on Friday with one of his familiar unilateral disarmament gestures and a fresh warning to Western politicians that it is time for them to respond more positively to his “new thinking.”

The gesture--a halt in production of nuclear weapons-grade uranium and the closing by 1991 of two reactors used to make weapons-grade plutonium--was quickly dismissed by independent experts and the Bush Administration as relatively meaningless in military terms.

Could Strain Alliance

But his warning that a North Atlantic Treaty Organization plan to modernize its short-range nuclear arsenal could force the Soviet Union to follow suit and jeopardize conventional arms reduction negotiations in central Europe is considered likely to put further strain on a Western alliance already at odds over the modernization issue.

Gorbachev’s moves came amid a dazzling display of traditional British pomp and circumstance that culminated with lunch at Windsor Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II accepted the Soviet leader’s invitation to visit Moscow at an undetermined future date.

The monarch’s acceptance, which required the approval of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, underlined the extraordinary warmth that has come to coexist with continued, sharp policy differences in the complex Soviet-British relationship.

A visit to Moscow by the Queen, the first since her distant relatives of the Russian royal family were overthrown in the 1917 Russian Revolution, would represent a highly symbolic endorsement by Britain of the changes that Gorbachev has wrought in the Soviet system. At the same time, Thatcher’s government hopes that the prospect of the visit will become another incentive for the transformation to continue.

Earlier Friday, Gorbachev assured several hundred invited dignitaries at Guildhall, the ornate and historic seat of the City of London’s government, that “there is no turning back” from his program of reform, known in Russian as perestroika . And he hailed Britain as “the nation whose political experience has enriched the history of the world.”

Thatcher responded by praising the Soviet leader as “one of those rare people who has the vision, the boldness and the sheer power of personality to change the whole future of his country, and to have a profound effect on the wider world as well.”

In a subsequent television interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., she added: “I do think he’s a man of destiny.”

For all the superlatives, however, Gorbachev’s Guildhall speech was a disappointment to those who had expected him to announce some major new arms control initiative or to expound his vision of a future “common European home” for the peoples of East and West.

Instead, he stressed what he described as the bankruptcy of the Cold War “philosophy of confrontation” and called for a new era of “international interaction” that will be necessary to solve the “various dangerous and pressing problems facing mankind.”

Continuing the Soviet commitment to reduce weapons arsenals, Gorbachev said, “I take this opportunity to tell you that we have recently decided to cease this year the production of enriched weapon-grade uranium.”

“In addition to the industrial reactor for the production of weapon-grade plutonium shut down in 1987,” he added, “we plan to shut down two other such reactors this year and next year without commissioning new units to replace them. This is yet another major step towards the complete cessation of production of fissionable materials for use in weapons.”

However, independent experts said the Soviets already have a sufficient stockpile of nuclear materials. Also, materials contained in the warheads of the medium-range missiles being dismantled under Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces reduction agreements with the West can be reused.

“I don’t think that anybody at this point believes that this will have any effect on their ability to produce nuclear weapons,” commented Hans Bennendyk, an arms control expert at London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Thatcher told reporters here that the Soviet move “is unlikely to have an effect for some years,” and in Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher dismissed the announcement, saying at a news briefing that “the measures will leave the Soviet Union with substantial production capabilities for nuclear materials.”

President Bush, asked at a press conference about Gorbachev’s announcement, replied that he hadn’t seen it. But he rejected Gorbachev’s criticism of the day before that the United States is foot-dragging rather than moving forward with the Soviet Union on arms control and that the Bush Administration is taking too long with its review of foreign policy.

“Let me simply say we’re the United States of America,” the President said. “We’re making a prudent review, and I will be ready to discuss that with the Soviets when we are ready. Mr. Gorbachev knows that there is no foot-dragging going on . . . ,” he said.

In issuing his warning on tactical nuclear weapons, Gorbachev said, “There can be no doubt that if NATO goes ahead with its (modernization) program, . . . this is bound to affect the Vienna (conventional arms) talks, confidence-building measures, and the situation in Europe in general. This is bound to devalue much of what has been achieved under the INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) treaty. . . .

“We strongly oppose any plans for the modernization of nuclear weapons,” he added. “We are not modernizing, nor do we intend to modernize them unless we are made to.”

One British analyst termed Gorbachev’s statement “a shot across the bow” of NATO at a time that both the United States and Britain are pressing the allies to commit to modernization. They argue that the Soviets have already brought their tactical nuclear arsenal up to date, leaving NATO far behind. West Germany, however, wants to postpone the decision, and the debate is expected to come to a head within the next few weeks.

Underlying the modernization issue is a fundamental difference between Thatcher and Gorbachev over the future of nuclear weapons. Gorbachev has stated that his goal is to have a world without such weapons by the year 2000. Thatcher argues that it will be impossible to put the nuclear “genie” back in the bottle, and that furthermore, nuclear weapons have been an effective deterrent to war in Europe for 40 years.

Earlier, the Soviet leader appeared slightly uncomfortable during most of a day in which he was surrounded by a British pageantry little changed through many centuries.

Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, were greeted at the entrance to Guildhall by Christopher Collet, the Lord Mayor of The City, the square-mile area that is the oldest part of the capital and now mostly its financial district. Collet, who was robed in blue, gold, and ermine and wore a plumed, tricorn hat, walked beside the Soviet leader, who wore a dark pinstripe business suit, into the splendid main chamber. They marched behind more robed men carrying the huge, ceremonial golden mace and sword as the state trumpeters sounded their arrival.

As he reached his chair next to the podium, Gorbachev began to sit just as the first notes of the British national anthem were played. He recovered quickly.

He also appeared uncertain on arrival at Windsor Castle, nervously straightening his coat as he stepped out of his armor-plated Zil limousine to shake hands with the waiting Queen. He was again out of place for the start of the national anthem before Prince Philip, the Queen’s husband, guided him back to the proper spot.

Invited to review a battalion of bearskin-capped Coldstream Guards on the castle’s immaculately manicured internal quadrangle, Gorbachev scurried past the ranks without even looking at the troops in their gray greatcoats on either side.

He did take an interest during a brief royal tour of the castle in portraits of Czar Alexander I and half a dozen other Russian military heroes who helped defeat Napoleon in 1812. He also stopped to admire a huge suit of armor said to have been made for King Henry VIII.

But Gorbachev seemed his happiest when, for the second time in his brief visit, he ordered his limousine stopped in downtown London so he could get out and mix with the crowds of British well-wishers.

Times staff writer Tyler Marshall contributed to this story.