SOVIET PERSPECTIVES

A selection of quotes offers the Soviet reaction and positions on the Persian Gulf crisis , which began Aug. 2 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait:

Aug. 2: “The Soviet Union believes that no contentious issues, no matter how complicated, justify the use of force. Such events (the invasion of Kuwait) totally contradict the interests of the Arab states, create new, additional obstacles to the settlement of conflicts in the Middle East and run counter to the positive tendencies of improvement in international life.”

--Statement read by a Foreign Ministry spokesman

Aug. 3: “In connection with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi armed forces, the Soviet Union has decided to suspend supplies of arms and military hardware to Iraq.”

--Foreign Ministry statement

Aug. 3: “We believe that the international community should not only condemn the invasion but also take practical steps in response. The Soviet Union and the United States are now resorting to an unusual step--they are jointly urging the entire international community to join them and suspend all supplies of arms to Iraq on a worldwide scale.”

--Joint U.S.-Soviet statement read at Vnukovo-2 Airport by Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze .

Aug. 9: If the U.N. “takes a decision on the use of a multilateral force, the Soviet Union will, on that basis, work out the line to be followed. . . . At this time, there is no question of taking part in a multinational force or a sea blockade outside the framework of the U.N. Security Council.”

--Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri A. Gremitskikh

Aug. 17: “We have witnessed an act of perfidy and a blatant violation of international law and the U.N. Charter--in short, a violation of everything the world community now pins its hopes on.”

--Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in a speech.

Aug. 22: “They are fulfilling their contractual duties, that is, helping teach how to use the military technology.”

--Col. Valentin Ogurtsov, acknowledging that 193 Soviet military specialists are still working with the Iraqi armed forces .

Aug. 26: “We don’t have any plans and we don’t have any intentions to use force.”

--Shevardnadze, asked if the Soviet Union would send troops or ships to the gulf to enforce the Security Council decision.

Aug. 30: “Iraq is only 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the borders of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which gives the United States an opportunity to exert pressure on events in this region.”

--Gen. Vladimir N. Lobov, commander of the Warsaw Pact, expressing worries about the concentration of U.S. forces in gulf.