Talks Aim for Pre-Summit Arms Accord : Meeting Set With Belief Pact Could Be Ready by Mid-1990

A top White House official indicated Sunday that the superpowers hope to complete a new arms agreement to halve their long-range nuclear weapons by the next U.S.-Soviet summit meeting in mid-1990.

Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to President Bush, said the time frame for the summit--late spring or early summer--was set in the belief that there could be “significant progress if not conclusion of the START (strategic arms reduction talks) agreement by then.”

In another development following the highly successful meeting here between top U.S. and Soviet diplomats, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said that the Kremlin has apparently ruled out any military crackdown to bring the independent-minded Baltic republics to heel.

‘Not a Feasible Alternative’

Baker said that Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze “specifically rejected the use of force as not being a feasible alternative” to demands for greater autonomy by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Shevardnadze also said that non-interference is “a view that is shared by the Soviet leadership.”

The three Baltic states were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union during World War II. The United States has never formally recognized the annexations. Among the Soviet republics, they are most outspoken in their demand for greater sovereignty, if not outright independence.

Baker, who appeared on the CBS interview program “Face the Nation,” said the United States supports Baltic calls for freedom but “not . . . in the context of major instability, bloodshed.” The United States does not want to incite rebellion by any actions or public statements, he added.

Baker Heads for U.N.

Baker flew to New York on Sunday to attend the U.N. General Assembly, where President Bush is scheduled to speak today. Shevardnadze also flew to New York but in a separate flight aboard a Soviet plane.

A senior Administration official who is traveling with Baker from Wyoming to New York said that Bush’s U.N. speech will outline new American proposals on controlling chemical weapons.

(The Associated Press, quoting Administration sources, said Bush will propose that both superpowers cut their chemical weapons stockpiles by more than 50%.)

The official, noting that Moscow and some other countries have accused Washington of foot dragging on chemical weapons talks, said the President’s speech will answer the criticism and “constitute a significant move by the United States.”

(Four major networks said they plan live coverage of the speech, beginning about 8:45 a.m. PDT.)

The official said that the United States and the Soviet Union will soon launch “rather substantial planning for the summit” meeting of Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. He said this will include at least two more meetings between Baker and Shevardnadze, beginning with a session in the Soviet Union in November, December or January.

In a long joint statement detailing the weekend talks here, the two sides cited the new Soviet approach on arms control in which Moscow’s prior insistence on linking offensive and defense weapons has now been dropped. This Soviet concession removes a major obstacle to completion of a strategic arms reduction treaty, both sides agreed.

‘Positive Development’

The official aboard Baker’s plane said that the Soviets’ new position was “a very positive development in terms of moving us forward toward the completion and implementation of a START treaty.”

But he added, “You should not forget that there are still problems. Some of these are difficult issues, so what I don’t think people ought to do is jump to the automatic conclusion that because we’ve gotten this hang-up out of the way, and it was a really major hang-up, that that means necessarily that we are ready to conclude a treaty.”

The Soviets have maintained publicly that if the United States conducted work on its Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, or “Star Wars”) in violation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Moscow would retain the right to break out of the START offensive weapon treaty.

The description of the Soviet move in the joint statement was unconditional, however, indicating that Soviet efforts to qualify its concession for face-saving reasons was not seriously considered in the formal talks.

Rejecting some predictions that the Bush Administration will nonetheless now move away from SDI, Baker maintained that it was “every bit as committed to SDI as before.”

Scowcroft, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” appeared much less dogmatic, however, about the controversial missile defense program put forward by former President Ronald Reagan.

SDI ‘Out the Window?’

Asked if SDI is now “out the window,” he replied that the original concept first outlined in 1983 by Reagan had been “amended significantly” by the time Reagan left office early this year.

On other issues, Scowcroft said:

-- The Soviets may not have complete control of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, “but they have enough (control) to keep him from sending arms to Nicaragua.” While the Kremlin itself has stopped arms shipments, weapons are reaching Managua from the Soviet Bloc “in greater numbers than last year,” he said.

-- The Soviets have been “pouring” arms and other equipment into Afghanistan, actions that are “not compatible” with efforts to resolve the civil war there. The United States continues supplying arms to the guerrillas fighting the Moscow-backed Kabul regime now in power.

Times staff writer Norman Kempster, in New York, contributed to this story.