Gorbachev Calls for Prudence in Policy on Gulf

Even as President Bush voiced confidence that a U.N. consensus can be forged authorizing the use of force against Iraq, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev urged prudence Friday, saying a Persian Gulf war would be more disastrous than the conflicts in Vietnam or Afghanistan.

Gorbachev, speaking at a news conference, stressed his continuing solidarity with Bush, who held talks with the Soviet leader Monday in Paris. As before, however, Gorbachev did not express support for the U.N. resolution Bush is seeking--but he did not rule out eventual Soviet backing either.

The Kremlin leader did agree with Bush that a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, on which both their countries hold permanent seats, should be convened soon because of what Gorbachev called increasing danger in the gulf.

Gorbachev told journalists that he and Bush, at their Paris meeting, “agreed that the situation is not becoming simpler, but more complicated. It has the potential for danger, very great danger.

“This is not Vietnam or Afghanistan; this is very serious,” Gorbachev added, recalling regional wars fought by the superpowers that they found they could not win.

Bush, speaking in Cairo, said he is confident the Security Council would authorize the use of force against Iraq, which overran Kuwait on Aug. 2 and later proclaimed the annexation of the oil-rich emirate.

Asked whether the Kremlin would back the use of force to drive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait, Gorbachev said, “Nobody has the right to assume the functions of the Security Council.” He asked for a worldwide consensus.

“Despite the role played by the U.S.S.R. and the United States in world politics, they should act together with the United Nations,” the Soviet leader declared.

In Paris, however, Bush failed to persuade Gorbachev to join him publicly in seeking the Security Council resolution that would put military action against Iraq under U.N. auspices.

Gorbachev denied that meeting led to a rift between them, which was the conclusion some drew from the leaders’ failure to hold a news conference afterward. “On the contrary, this meeting deepened our mutual understanding,” he said.

Although insisting that all peaceful means must be exhausted to force the Baghdad regime to leave Kuwait, the Soviet Union has not explicitly ruled out taking part in military action against its former ally.