Soviets Say U.S. Must Stop Chemical Arms Production

The Soviet Union said Thursday that the United States must stop producing chemical weapons if it wants an agreement to cut stockpiles of the weapons.

“I don’t think it would be realistic to expect that the agreement would be signed (without) a commitment to cessation of production,” chief Soviet negotiator Sergei B. Batsanov said.

Batsanov and chief U.S. negotiator Stephen Ledogar admitted that the latest session of the talks that began April 10 have not eliminated the main obstacles--including the question of U.S. production--to an agreement to make big cuts in their arsenals to 5,000 tons each.

They said they hope that Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze will iron out the problems next month in time for an agreement to be signed at the U.S.-Soviet summit at the end of May.

Baker and Shevardnadze will meet in the Soviet Union from May 16 to 19 in advance of Washington talks between Presidents Bush and Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“We’ve made some good progress but unfortunately we still have some significant problems, so there will be some issues that have to go to the ministers,” Ledogar told reporters as he went into the last meeting Thursday.