Reporter’s Notebook : Gorbachev Takes Lead in Media Attention

One measure of the European fascination with Soviet Leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was the number of journalists seeking accreditation for his West German visit.

About 2,500 press and broadcast credentials have been issued for the Gorbachev visit, compared with 1,600 for the stopover of President Bush here at the end of last month.

West German organizers say that the Soviet advance men have been easier to deal with than the White House group, who, they say, seemed to devote much of their time to such things as camera angles on the President.

“The (Soviets) seemed more relaxed; it’s much easier dealing with them,” said one West German aide. “They don’t worry about as many things, they are quieter and less demanding.”

For an energetic man like Gorbachev, the Soviet leader’s four-day schedule, curiously, has long, empty blocks of time.

His days start relatively late for such an occasion and end early. On Wednesday, for instance, he has nothing scheduled after 4:30 p.m.

The official Soviet explanation is that he wanted to reduce the social side of the schedule out of respect for the victims of two recent Soviet train accidents.

The unofficial reason: Gorbachev, who is staying at the Soviet Embassy, wants to maintain frequent contact with Moscow to monitor events in Uzbekistan and any other problem areas back home.

The first tricky agreement at the Soviet-West German summit has already been negotiated.

The West Germans offered the Soviets the use of their government fleet of powerful Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs. The Soviets said they preferred their standard Zil limousines.

Accordingly, 12 Zils were airlifted to Bonn along with their drivers, who have spent the last few days practicing along various routes Gorbachev will travel by car.

However, the Soviets, so as not to be shown up, asked that West German motorcade escorts move no faster than 100 kilometers (62 miles) an hour. The Germans agreed.

The star of the Kremlin advance team is Gennady I. Gerasimov, the chief Soviet spokesman, who turned up on the most popular West German television game show, “You Bet.”

This consists of celebrity visitors betting on whether participants in difficult and fanciful stunts can pull it off.

A “surprise guest,” Gerasimov was cheered loudly by the audience in the Dortmund studio when he appeared on the show, seated next to actor Don Johnson of “Miami Vice” fame.

He elicited applause when he said that he would rather match wits on TV than talk about missiles, and he duly bet that a couple of muscle men could hold up wooden planking over which a group of Royal Scots Bagpipers would march.

Before the bet, he offered to drink nothing but beer from Dortmund, the Milwaukee of Germany when it comes to brewing, during the Gorbachev visit--if he lost.

He won.

“But I’ll still drink Dortmunder,” promised Gerasimov to the delight of the local audience.