Yeltsin Has Talk With Bush : White House Plays Down Maverick Soviet’s ‘Drop By’

Maverick Soviet politician Boris Yeltsin talked to President Bush for about 15 minutes today in a meeting the White House sought to play down lest it take on the appearance of interference in Moscow’s internal affairs.

Bush had been scheduled to see Yeltsin for just a few minutes during what the White House described as a “drop by” at a 75-minute meeting between Yeltsin and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

The White House said the longer talk still qualified as a “drop by.” Reporters and photographers were barred from the session and the White House said it would not follow its customary practice of releasing an official photograph.

Talk Limited

“We do want to be clear that United States policy is to support glasnost and perestroika and the reforms under way in the Soviet Union and, so, we didn’t want to indicate we were trying to provide a platform for dissent,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said of Bush’s decision to limit his talk with Yeltsin.

He said the White House regards Yeltsin as “an important spokesman for his point of view,” but added:

“We don’t want to do anything to foster internal conflict that might be associated with his tour.”

Yeltsin, who said Monday that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has only six months to lead his country to progress or else face a “revolution from below,” cut short a talk in Baltimore today on word that he would be received at the White House.

He was addressing an enthusiastic audience at Johns Hopkins University when a university official interrupted.

‘Just Been Invited’

“I have just been advised that Mr. Yeltsin has just been invited to go to the White House,” university President Steven Muller said.

“I can stay here or go to the White House. It’s up to you,” Yeltsin said before departing.

Yeltsin, 58, had been hoping for an invitation to the White House during his eight-day visit to the United States. He had said he wanted to tell Bush how the United States can contribute to Gorbachev’s reform program, toward which Washington has taken a cautious attitude.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III agreed Monday to meet with Yeltsin and at that time no White House meeting was scheduled.

“If perestroika falters and dies . . . the cataclysm will spread, not just in the Soviet Union but to the United States as well,” Yelstin told his Baltimore audience today. “So I do have something to tell President Bush.

“If he doesn’t receive me, I’ll tell the vice president. If he doesn’t see me, I’ll tell the secretary of state half of what I have to say. We have to combine our efforts to rescue perestroika, which is in a super-critical situation today,” he said.