The World : U.S., Soviets to Sign Accord

The United States and the Soviet Union are set to sign an accord pledging that neither side will resort to force in responding to accidental military incidents during troop maneuvers, White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said. The pact, which does not require Senate ratification, is to be signed by Adm. William J. Crowe Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his Soviet counterpart, Army Gen. Mikhail A. Moiseyev, in Moscow while Crowe is there for an 11-day visit beginning Monday, Fitzwater said. The pact, negotiated by a U.S.-Soviet task force over a period of several months, is “not intended to augment or substitute any arms control forum,” Fitzwater added, but is simply “designed to prevent the use of force in responding to accidental military incidents.”