Soviets Propose German Link to Both East, West

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, trying to assure the Soviet Union’s security in a Europe that he sees likely to be dominated by Germany once it is reunified, proposed Tuesday that the new German state become an associate member of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Gorbachev said that such a dual status could be the first step toward ending the Cold War division of Europe into rival military blocs and the formation of a new all-European security system.

Although Western diplomats saw new flexibility in the Soviet position, Gorbachev’s proposal was quickly rejected by President Bush in Washington and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn.

“This is not a proposal we consider realistic,” Kohl declared. “We reject it.”

Bush, who had discussed the suggestion with Gorbachev during their summit meeting in Washington this month, told reporters, “Our position is well-known to him--a unified Germany should be in NATO with no conditions.”

But Gorbachev, reporting on his talks with Bush to the Supreme Soviet, the country’s legislature, was more thinking aloud and attempting to bring forth new ideas from the West than outlining a hard-and-fast Kremlin position.

“As a hypothesis, I could suggest some form of associated membership of the new Germany in the two alliances, at least while they still exist,” he said. “Such dual membership could become a new form of unifying element, a kind of forerunner of new European (security) structures.”

Gorbachev, suggesting that the two alliances transform themselves into political groupings, said changes in North Atlantic Treaty Organization military doctrine would ease Soviet concerns about German membership in the Western alliance. “Within such a framework, a new solution could be found for ensuring security for a united Germany,” he said.

Setting out yet another idea, Gorbachev proposed a transition during which the present West German army would remain under the NATO command, the East German army would be under the new German government and Soviet and U.S. troops would remain there to ensure stability.

Later in his speech, Gorbachev said he had told Bush that the Soviet Union “could agree to a united Germany’s NATO membership if the United States accepted the idea of associate membership and the principle of the convergence of (military) blocs in combination with the German reunification process,” apparently dropping the condition of membership in the Warsaw Pact.

International talks on the military status of the future German state enter a crucial phase in 10 days, when the foreign ministers of Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States, the victorious Allied powers of World War II, meet in Berlin with their counterparts from East and West Germany.

“We are not yet there, but there is a lot of movement,” a Western ambassador said, appraising Gorbachev’s speech. “The important thing is not to look at each idea, each proposal, each ‘hypothesis,’ if you will, but at the direction, the trend, the underlying shifts.

“Saying that Germany could be a member of NATO under certain conditions is a long journey from insisting that it be neutral.”

The Soviet Union, after accepting the idea of German reunification after years of opposition, had originally proposed neutrality for a unified Germany and, when that was rejected, put forward a series of other ideas, including full membership in both alliances, a new security grouping for Europe to replace NATO and the Warsaw Pact--and even Soviet membership in NATO.

Gorbachev’s lengthy discussion of German reunification Tuesday reflected the great sensitivity the question has for the Soviet Union, which lost about 27 million people in World War II, as well as Moscow’s search for a new balance of power in Europe after the virtual collapse of the Warsaw Pact.

“I told President Bush that, instead of developing a fixation on the membership of a unified Germany in NATO, would it not be much better to think about how to bring closer to each other the alliances that still divide Europe?” Gorbachev said.

But Gorbachev, reminding the West of Soviet sensitivity on German reunification, also warned that, unless Moscow is satisfied that its security is assured, it will rethink its entire foreign policy if the West forces the issue of German membership in NATO.

“If we develop the feeling that our interests are being neglected in the process of German reunification, then developments in Europe will be seriously jeopardized,” he said. “This is not a bluff. We would be forced by the fundamental interests of our people to pause and take a close look at the situation. Needless to say, we would not like to do this.”

West German government officials in Bonn saw Gorbachev’s proposal as a sign that Moscow is still searching for a clear position on the issue.

“We’re looking at six or seven different formulas on the NATO issue from Gorbachev alone in recent months,” commented one official. “If you include (Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A.) Shevardnadze and others, the number is larger still. Today’s speech only makes it clear there is no fixed idea, but Gorbachev wants to impress the public that he’s working hard on it.”

The officials in Bonn interpreted Gorbachev’s remarks as being intended mostly for Soviet domestic consumption.

“We have to give him room to deal with his own public opinion,” commented one official.

In Washington, a senior Bush Administration official echoed that theme: “I think we very clearly are seeing an evolution in Soviet views . . . as they deal with the domestic problems that a unified Germany in NATO creates for them.”

The Administration continues to believe that over time, Gorbachev will move toward acceptance of the U.S. position, the official said. But, he added, the Soviet president must move slowly to prepare his citizens for the idea.

The German officials said they expect little give on the delicate NATO issue by Gorbachev before next month’s Soviet Communist Party Congress or the NATO summit scheduled for the following week. That summit is likely to emphasize the growing political character of the Western alliance, a development that would make NATO membership for a united Germany easier for Moscow to swallow.

As the Bush Administration official put it, changes will be proposed to NATO designed “to reassure Gorbachev and the Soviets that NATO is not necessarily only pointed at them anymore.”

Despite the Western recognition of Soviet sensitivities reflected in such comments, some Kremlin officials are already beginning to express unhappiness with what they regard as a lack of response from the West.

Oleg Baklanov, the Communist Party secretary in charge of the defense industry, told the Novosti Press Agency in an interview published Tuesday that the West is trying to gain unilateral advantages in Europe and tip the balance of power in its favor.

Times staff writers Tyler Marshall, in West Berlin, and David Lauter, in Washington, contributed to this report.