Soviets to Seek Halt in All Arms to Central America

The Soviet Union is prepared to join with the United States to guarantee a halt to all arms shipments to Central America, Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze was quoted as saying today.

In the offer to stop arms shipments to the war-torn region, Shevardnadze referred to “intra-regional shipments” in an apparent response to U.S. charges that Soviet allies Cuba and Nicaragua are supplying Soviet weapons to leftist insurgents in El Salvador.

Shevardnadze, in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE that was published by the Soviet newspaper Izvestia, said Central America was crammed with armaments that made no one feel secure.

“This problem can apparently be solved by stopping all arms shipments to the region and also all intraregional transfers of armaments,” he said.

Reducing the weapons to a level of “reasonable sufficiency” was crucial to peace in the area, he said.

“The Soviet Union would be prepared to assume, jointly with the United States, the role of guarantor of an agreement that could be drawn up for this purpose.”

At the Malta summit last weekend, President Bush said he accepted Soviet assurances that Moscow was no longer directly arming leftist insurgents in El Salvador. But Bush said Cuba and Nicaragua were duping Moscow with denials they were sending arms.