Gorbachev, Kohl Meet, Move Toward Accord : Reunification: The Soviet leader strongly hints that he is ready to accept German membership in NATO.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, emerging from a morning of talks with West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, hinted strongly Sunday that Moscow is ready to accept NATO membership for a united Germany.

“In the East-West context in general, much of importance has happened in the past months, (and) this new context opens the possibility for new understandings,” Gorbachev told a group of reporters traveling with Kohl when asked about his stance on the issue.

Later, in an interview with West German television, Kohl predicted that a breakthrough is imminent.

“We touched every question, and by noon tomorrow (today), I think we can come up with a series of very good results,” the chancellor said.

While important issues linked to unity must still be negotiated among the two Germanys and the four victorious World War II powers--Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States--Moscow’s resistance to a united Germany’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization remains the biggest stumbling block to international agreement on the terms of reunification.

Observers here believe that Soviet domestic pressures, both from the military and conservative forces within his own Communist Party, have prevented Gorbachev from embracing the idea publicly, even though he is said to be no longer personally opposed to it.

Conservatives blame Gorbachev’s reform movement for the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the end of the East German socialist state--emotional issues here.

However, Gorbachev’s success at the recently ended Communist Party congress, coupled with a string of concessions from the West, have reduced this resistance.

In recent days, the West Germans and Soviets have reportedly drawn closer on another crucial point needed for Soviet acceptance of NATO membership for a united Germany: limiting the military strength of the future unified German state.

West German officials said ahead of time that the two leaders would discuss troop strengths, and the presence of Gen. Mikhail A. Moiseyev, chief of the Soviet general staff, at Sunday’s news conference was seen as a sign that talks on this point had reached a detailed phase.

At a summit meeting of NATO leaders two weeks ago, Kohl agreed to announce a maximum size for future German military forces when a conventional arms reductions treaty is signed in Vienna, most likely in November.

However, to assure that German unity occurs with Moscow’s blessing, Soviet and West German leaders have worked to find a mutually agreeable figure--most likely 300,000 to 350,000 troops--in advance of such a formal announcement.

A strength of 350,000 would leave German forces just below the combined Soviet and American troop strength in Central Europe under new levels expected to be contained in the Vienna treaty.

West Germany at present has armed forces of 495,000, while East Germany has about 100,000.

“The size of this force and Soviet (possession of) nuclear weapons means this (limit) is not really meaningful militarily,” commented a Western diplomat here. “But the question of (German) troop strength is crucial” to persuading the Kremlin to accept NATO membership for a united Germany.

The Soviet Union now has 3.9 million people in uniform, including 360,000 in East Germany; under the proposed Vienna treaty, Moscow would be permitted to have 195,000 in Central Europe.

Both Soviet and Western diplomats here interpreted Gorbachev’s news conference comments as a sign that the Soviet leader is ready to move on the issue.

“It indicates that maybe there is a solution,” commented Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov.

But it was as much the confident, almost buoyant, mood of the two leaders as it was their comments that indicated agreement is near.

Although the Soviet leader had earlier quipped to Kohl about his lack of sleep during the 12-day party congress, Gorbachev appeared brimming with confidence, joking with members of the West German delegation and stressing the need to forge a positive, cooperative relationship with a unified Germany.

He described the initial round of talks during Kohl’s two-day visit to the Soviet Union variously as “substantive,” “good” and “constructive.”

Kohl sat with his hands folded during much of the 30-minute news conference, trying vainly to contain a broad grin.

Later, the two leaders flew to Stavropol, Gorbachev’s home in southern Russia 1,000 miles south of Moscow, where they mingled with large crowds and laid wreaths at a large World War II memorial in that city.

Gorbachev also showed Kohl the office from which he once ruled the city as a relatively obscure regional Communist Party boss just over a decade ago.

The two leaders are expected to conclude their talks today before Kohl returns to Bonn late this evening.

Kohl is the first Western leader to accompany Gorbachev to his home area, and both Soviet and West German sources claimed the trip reflected the “good chemistry” between the two leaders.

As they walked through the city’s streets surrounded by large crowds of well-wishers, Gorbachev turned to his guest and said, “We’re at an altitude of 700 meters (2,300 feet) here, but we want our relations to go further upward.”

Then, pointing in the direction of 18,481-foot Mt. Elbus, the highest peak in the Caucasus range, the Soviet leader added, “It will take some time to reach the altitude of Elbus, but from our perspective we want to go even higher than this.”

Although strongly influenced by mistrust dating from the suffering of World War II, relations between the Soviet Union, Europe’s largest nation, and a united Germany, which would be the Continent’s richest and most technologically advanced nation, have enormous potential if they can develop positively.

At Sunday’s news conference, Gorbachev talked of the importance of a united Germany to the Soviet Union, noting that West Germany is Moscow’s largest Western trading partner, while East Germany was this country’s major Eastern European commercial link.

West Germany recently agreed to guarantee a $3-billion credit line and pay $710 million toward the cost of maintaining Soviet forces in East Germany for the remainder of this year, but German officials said that no further direct economic aid is imminent.

To avoid possible accusations of a united Germany forsaking the West and turning East, Germans hope to commit additional financial aid to Moscow within a multilateral assistance package.

Kohl pushed hard and won commitments to study possible aid to the Soviet Union from both the seven-nation economic summit that concluded recently in Houston and last month’s meeting of European Community heads of government.

Kohl and Gorbachev said they had discussed a formal treaty, possibly to be signed next year, that would provide the framework for future political and economic ties between the Soviet Union and a united Germany.

“We know that this is a historic hour,” said Kohl. “We look forward, but without forgetting history.”