Baker Asks Shevardnadze to Seek Kremlin Halt in Arms for Iraq

Secretary of State James A. Baker III said today he has asked Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to have the Soviet Union halt arms deliveries to Iraq.

The secretary of state said he learned of the movement of Iraqi forces into Kuwait just before his final meeting with Shevardnadze today.

“We condemn this (Iraqi invasion) and we call on Iraq to withdraw,” Baker told reporters on his plane on a flight from Irkutsk to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator “ . . . Coercion and intimidation is not the way to resolve disputes.”

Baker said he had told Shevardnadze about the Iraqi invasion and the Soviet foreign minister “was not pleased.” Baker did not say he had obtained any commitment from Shevardnadze to halt the Soviet arms delivery.

A senior Administration official on Baker’s plane said that Baker had spoken with National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft about the Mideast situation. Baker said no decision had been made yet on whether he should return to Washington early from his planned three-day stop in Mongolia, during which he had arranged a hunting and fishing expedition.