Soviets Likely to Ask Deeper Troop Cuts in Central Europe : Arms control: Baker presents ‘a number of new positions’ in his first meeting with Shevardnadze.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III arrived here Wednesday amid signs that his Soviet hosts will suggest deeper cuts in U.S. and Soviet forces in Central Europe than the 195,000-each figure proposed by President Bush last week.

For his part, Baker presented “a number of new positions” in nuclear, conventional and chemical arms control during his first meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.

The new U.S. offers focused on issues in the conventional forces reduction talks in Europe, a senior U.S. official said, including such matters as aircraft and tanks, but not new manpower proposals. Baker’s aim is to speed conclusion this year of a treaty now being negotiated to reduce those conventional forces.

U.S. officials had indicated some new U.S. flexibility in dealing with the definitions of tanks and aircraft to be covered in that treaty, such as the distinction between armored personnel carriers and tanks, and whether training and interceptor fighters should be counted in the ceilings for numbers of aircraft.

The two foreign ministers, beginning the new round of talks, met for three hours in their first session, which had been scheduled for half that time.

Baker told reporters on his plane en route here from Prague, Czechoslovakia, that he “would not be surprised” at a lower counteroffer from the Soviets on the 195,000-troop ceiling that Bush proposed for both U.S. and Soviet forces in Central Europe.

Shevardnadze, speaking to reporters as he waited for Baker to arrive, replied, “We’ll see” when asked if the Soviets will come back with a lower figure for troops in the central zone of the Continent.

U.S. officials have speculated that Moscow may call for greater force reductions in Europe than has Washington because its former allies may not be willing to host even 195,000 Soviet soldiers, which is about one-third of the current Soviet strength there.

The governments of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and influential Polish figures such as Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, have demanded that all Soviet forces be removed within a year. Only East Germany has not yet called for Soviets troops to go home, but that may come very soon after the East German elections next month.

Another reason for expecting a Soviet counterproposal is that Bush’s offer also provided that the United States would retain an additional 30,000 men in Europe outside the central zone. The Soviets would have the option to do the same, but will almost certainly not be invited to do so by the Warsaw Bloc countries of southeastern Europe. They would therefore be likely to seek a way to offset that numerical advantage.

On another issue, the question of German reunification took on a new urgency during the day with the Soviet announcement that top West German leaders will come here Saturday to discuss the matter.

Shevardnadze dodged questions about Soviet views toward a reunification scenario proposed by West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, saying that Genscher and Bonn Chancellor Helmut Kohl will fly here on Saturday for talks that will cover reunification in detail.

“For us, this (issue) is a very important problem--I would say even more important (than for the United States),” Shevardnadze told reporters. He added that Genscher “always has many reasonable, sensible ideas,” suggesting that he hopes that another German proposal might be forthcoming during their visit.

Genscher’s plan, supported by the United States, Britain and France, envisions a united Germany that remains a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but with no NATO military structure in East Germany.

Previously, Shevardnadze had proposed an undefined “international referendum” on whether German reunification should be permitted, an idea immediately rejected by West Germany and its Western allies, who consider the issue to be mainly up to the German people.

Senior U.S. officials said reunification could come “shortly after” East German elections are held on March 18.

The Baker-Shevardnadze meeting began one hour later than scheduled because of the crucial Communist Party Central Committee meeting which Shevardnadze attended. He said later that for the first time in his life, he broke party discipline by leaving the meeting before its conclusion in order to meet Baker.

Shevardnadze gave Baker a report on the Central Committee discussions before the two laid out an agenda for the next two days of talks. Baker in turn outlined the latest U.S. arms control ideas.

Baker had been expected to bring new ideas on how to resolve the continuing disagreement in the nuclear arms negotiations on air-launched cruise missiles. His proposal, U.S. officials had said, would offer a U.S. concession on the range of such weapons in exchange for Soviet concessions on how to count the number of those weapons carried on a bomber.

Despite some expectations, Baker did not bring a new proposal on limiting multiple warheads on mobile missiles, U.S. officials said, in part because the U.S. government could not agree internally on a new position in the face of uncertainties about whether Congress will fund global U.S. missiles this year.

The Soviets may raise the questions, however, and if so, the American team will defer any detailed discussion of the issue until the next meeting of Baker and Shevardnadze.