START Talks to Resume June 19; U.S. Reserves Option to Change Position

U.S.-Soviet negotiations to reduce long-range nuclear weapons will resume on June 19, Secretary of State James A. Baker III announced today.

START, for strategic arms reduction talks, was suspended last November with about 90% of the work completed on a new treaty sharply cutting back ocean-spanning bombers, missiles and nuclear submarines.

The negotiations tentatively had been set to resume in February, but President Bush ordered a delay for a reassessment of U.S. arms control policy and strategic weaponry.

The review was recently concluded, and Baker, on a trip to Moscow two weeks ago, reached an agreement with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev for a resumption of the negotiations. The precise date in June was left open until now.

The Soviets had been eager to resume the talks but waited for completion of the review.

Option for Change

Baker has said the U.S. position in the Geneva talks will be to pick up where the Reagan Administration left off as it sought a cutback of 30% to 50%. But Baker said the Bush Administration also reserved the option to make some changes. He did not say what differences might emerge at the bargaining table.

Among the unsettled issues are whether to try to restrict mobile land-based missiles and how to verify reductions in such elusive arms as sea-launched and air-launched cruise missiles.

Max M. Kampelman, chief arms-control negotiator in the Reagan Administration, has said a treaty could be completed within a few months. That is not clear in light of possible new U.S. bargaining positions.

The Soviets also were determined to restrict the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars, program that seeks to construct a defense against ballistic missiles.

The strategic weapons are the most potent in the world.

Previous Pact

The two superpowers concluded a treaty in 1987 to eliminate another class of nuclear arms--intermediate-range missiles that can travel from 300 to 3,000 miles. The pact also established a system of verification that involves Soviet monitors going to U.S. installations and American inspectors operating on Soviet territory.

A third category of nuclear arms--so-called battlefield or tactical missiles--has not been subject to negotiations.

The West German government, with support from several North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, has urged the United States to negotiate reductions or even total elimination of the ground-based missiles with Moscow. But the U.S. position is that the missiles should be improved and are essential to the defense of Western Europe.

Short-range nuclear weapons have a range of under 300 miles.