Weapons Deliveries to Nicaragua Suspended, Gorbachev Tells Bush

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev informed President Bush this month that all Soviet weapons deliveries to Marxist-controlled Nicaragua were suspended at the beginning of 1989 and will not be resumed, an Administration official said Monday night.

The Soviet leader’s commitment was reconfirmed by Secretary of State James A. Baker III when he met in Moscow last week with Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States estimates that the Soviets provided $500 million in various forms of military aid, including weapons, to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua last year.

The official stressed that Gorbachev’s assurances did not foreclose delivery of other forms of military assistance, such as vehicles, supplies and clothing. Baker did not persuade the Soviet leaders to cut off that assistance as well, the official said.

Also, the Soviets declined to suspend their military support of Cuba, their other prominent client state in the region, the official said. In the Kremlin last week, Shevardnadze reiterated to Baker that weapons deliveries had ceased, and Gorbachev underscored the commitment at a 3 1/2-hour meeting with Baker, the official said.