No Border Changes, Gorbachev Insists : Europe: He apparently seeks a West German renunciation of land claims before unification.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, apparently seeking to calm East European concerns about the reunification of Germany, said in an interview published today that changes in German borders must be ruled out.

Gorbachev’s remarks, in answer to questions from the Communist Party newspaper Pravda, appeared aimed at forcing West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to issue a statement unequivocally dropping German claims on western Poland, Czechoslovakia and a slice of the Soviet Union, which were parts of pre-World War II Germany.

So far, Kohl has refused to say that he recognizes Germany’s postwar eastern boundary, which has alarmed the West German opposition and caused dismay in Poland. Poland was awarded a substantial chunk of German territory at the end of the war, in part to compensate it for land in the eastern part of the country that was annexed by the Soviet Union.

Soviet officials in the past few days have raised concerns about German reunification in terms of the impact that it will have on the Soviet and Western military blocs and negotiations for the reduction of troops in Central Europe.

But Gorbachev told Pravda that it should be “made clear right from the start” that the improvement of relations between East and West Germany will not threaten the interests of any neighboring states.

“And, of course, any encroachment upon the borders of other states must be ruled out,” Gorbachev told Pravda.

Although the Soviets had expressed reservations about German reunification as recently as last fall, Gorbachev said Moscow had actually supported the idea since the 1950s. He assured Kohl during three hours of talks Feb. 10 that the Soviet Union does not object to reunification at a pace to be decided by the German people.

Gorbachev noted that there is still no peace agreement between Germany and the four major Allies of World War II--Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. He said it is up to the countries involved to negotiate a treaty that can “finally determine Germany’s status in the European structure.”

Speaking of Poland, Gorbachev said: “The inviolability of its postwar borders, like the borders of other states, must be guaranteed. Only an international legal act can provide such a guarantee.”

At a meeting of the European Community in Dublin, Ireland, on Tuesday, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher gave the assurances that Gorbachev seemed to be calling for. He ruled out any territorial expansion beyond the current borders of East and West Germany.

“Germany will make an important contribution to the stability in Europe because she will make it absolutely clear what will be united--namely, the two existing German states and Berlin, which means guarantees for the eastern frontiers,” he said.

Gorbachev said concern in the Soviet Union about German reunification is understandable, adding that while West German leaders had made appropriate statements about the need to avoid future conflicts, they cannot avoid the “negative potential formed in Germany’s past” and need to give further reassurances.

Gorbachev repeated Soviet concerns that reunification of Germany not be allowed to disrupt the current balance between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact.

Bangkok bureau chief Wallace is on temporary assignment in Moscow.