Turmoil In Romania : U.S. Would Not Object to Warsaw Pact Intervention, Baker Says : Foreign policy: The secretary’s comments follow similar go-aheads from France and the Netherlands. But such action is deemed unlikely.

The United States would not object to Soviet or other Warsaw Pact military intervention in Romania to help save the revolution that ousted dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Sunday.

His comments followed a similar green light from France and the Netherlands. French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said the Soviets were told that “if they thought it useful to intervene, France would support them.” He even hinted that France would help exiled Romanians return to their homeland to fight.

Despite the seemingly incredible Western invitation to Moscow to use force in another nation, a Kremlin move was very doubtful. Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai I. Ryzhkov all but ruled out the prospect when he said Saturday that use of force is “unacceptable.”

And a State Department official said Sunday that after consultations with the Soviets, “intervention is not a likelihood. It looks like the (Romanian) army is gaining the upper hand.”

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters later: “We don’t have any indication that there is a chance of the Soviets going in, at least not at this time. So we don’t expect that to occur.”

Asked about Baker’s comment, Fitzwater added: “We could see a situation that might be severe enough where there’d be a need to help establish law and order.” But he said that it “certainly is not necessary now and does not appear to be necessary.”

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, in a separate broadcast interview, said Sunday that “we have not seen any sign of outside intervention at this point. It’s obviously our hope that the pro-reform forces will win, but it’s still a very hairy situation--a great deal of violence--and I think the outcome is probably still in doubt.”

Of all pact forces, Soviet troops would be particularly unwelcome in Romania, whatever their mission, according to a former U.S. ambassador to Romania, David Funderbunk.

Communists never enjoyed popular support in the country, and their rule had to be imposed by Stalin directly after World War II, he said. Also, Romanians still resent the Soviet annexation of a part of their country that is now called Moldavia.

The Moldavians, 65% of whom are ethnic Romanians, have already been agitating for greater autonomy within the Soviet Union. When Ceausescu was in power, reunification with Romania was unattractive, but with a democratic government in Bucharest offering a possible haven, the Moldavians may begin demanding independence much like Baltic states.

Among pact nations, Hungary would be most probable to intervene. About 10% of the Romanian population are ethnic Hungarians who have been repressed by Ceausescu and whose grievances led most directly to his fall. Any return to power by him or his supporters could well result in a bloodbath against the Hungarians and enormous pressure on the Budapest government to act.

The remarkable comment by Baker came in a Sunday television interview when he was asked if the United States would support Warsaw Pact intervention in Romania.

“We would support efforts to assist the Popular Front for National Salvation there in Romania,” he replied. “They are attempting to put off the yoke of a very, very oppressive and repressive dictatorship.

“So, I think that we would be inclined, probably, to follow the lead--follow the example-- of France, who, today, has said that if the Warsaw Pact felt it necessary to intervene on behalf of the opposition, that it would support that action,” Baker said.

Asked directly if he would support Soviet intervention, Baker replied, “That would be my view, yes.”

Baker was also asked if the United States might send its own troops to Romania. He declined to speculate. “That’s a matter for the President to determine,” he said. “I haven’t discussed that matter with him.”

The U.S. intervention in Panama, which Baker has described as an effort to bring democracy to that country, may have played a role in the position he has now taken on Soviet or Warsaw Pact intervention in Romania.

The Soviets would presumably be supporting democratic forces in Bucharest in the form of the provisional government there that has promised to oversee “a transition from dictatorship to democracy.” It would be difficult to deny the Soviets the same grounds for intervention in Eastern Europe that the United States has embraced in Latin America.

Nonetheless, his endorsement in advance of a Soviet military move into another nation was breathtaking against the background of 40 years of U.S.-Soviet hostility, when the coldest days of the Cold War came after Soviet interventions in East Germany and in Poland, and its invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.

Earlier Sunday, France’s Dumas--in what smacked of political grandstanding--said France would not only endorse a Soviet move into Romania but might even allow volunteers from Romanian exiles now in France and Frenchmen to fight for the pro-reform provisional government there.

“I let the Soviet authorities know yesterday that if they judge it necessary to intervene, France not only would not see this as inconvenient, but would support that action,” Dumas said.

So far, the new Bucharest government has asked only for humanitarian aid from Paris, he said. But “if any other request is made, we would appreciate it,” he added. “We are ready to respond to all new situations.”

“France will be in the first rank” if a foreign military intervention in Romania proves necessary, Dumas continued. “I can see very well the formation of a brigade of volunteers,” made up of some Romanians in exile as well some Frenchmen, he said. France would “facilitate” such a corps of volunteers getting into the fight, he said.

Dumas even called on the West to consider urgently intervening in Romania to prevent the popular uprising from being defeated. “France, and probably the Western powers, would not allow a popular movement of such breadth be crushed by such an ugly dictatorship,” he said.

Political experts in Paris said the chances of France intervening in Warsaw Pact territory were minimal, however, and that Dumas appeared to be pandering to domestic public opinion outraged by events in Romania. France is home to many exiled Romanians and had enjoyed considerable cultural influence in Romania before World War II.

The Dutch government Sunday also said that Warsaw Pact intervention would “support the aspirations of the Romanian people.”