Soviets Vow to Cut European Arms : U.S. Expresses Caution Over Plan to Trim 1,500 Warheads

The Soviet Union said today it plans to withdraw 1,500 nuclear warheads and other tactical short-range nuclear weapons from Central Europe by the end of the year, but the United States expressed caution about the announcement.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who made the announcement, said later that “a very small amount, relatively,” of Soviet battlefield nuclear weapons will remain in Europe after the withdrawals.

“This is going to be a very substantive amount,” said Shevardnadze, in Copenhagen for a 35-nation human rights conference.

U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, also at the conference, was cautious in his assessment of the announcement.

“We are still in the process of taking a look at it, analyzing it,” Baker said. He said the extent of the withdrawal is not clear, nor is whether the Soviets would destroy or simply remove the weapons.

Also, Baker said, it was not clear whether the arms Shevardnadze spoke about would have been withdrawn in any event with the Soviet troops being pulled out of Eastern Europe.

Shevardnadze and Baker are meeting during the human rights conference to push ahead with issues discussed during the Washington summit between Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev and President Bush.

A central issue is the military future of a united Germany. Europe and the United States want Germany as part of NATO, but the Soviet Union has balked at that idea.

Speaking at the conference, Shevardnadze said a compromise could be found in Soviet differences with Washington over Germany. He said that the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact would begin a “transformation” at its next meeting and that NATO should do the same.

“This is the way, as we underlined in the past, that we can find a compromise on the German issue,” Shevardnadze said.

Baker planned to assure Shevardnadze at a meeting tonight that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would undertake a review of its mission in light of easing East-West tensions.