Moscow Sends Plane to Iraq to Get Its Workers : Exodus: The Soviets are willing to discuss Baghdad’s demand for payment for terminated contracts.

The Soviet Union on Wednesday welcomed Iraq’s announcement that it will allow all 3,300 Soviet workers in the country to leave and expressed its willingness to discuss an Iraqi demand that compensation be paid for broken labor contracts.

“If there are going to be costs, we are prepared to bear those costs because we feel that the security and well-being of our citizens should come first,” Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Vitaly I. Churkin said.

In Baghdad, a Soviet diplomat said an IL-86 wide-body jetliner, which can carry as many as 400 passengers, is expected to arrive today to pick up the first of the homeward-bound Soviets, most of whom were employed in Iraq’s oil industry.

By Wednesday evening, more than 200 exit visas had been approved by Iraq’s Interior Ministry for the departing Soviets, the diplomat said.

The decision reportedly taken by Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council to allow the Soviet exodus was explained Tuesday by a government spokesman in Baghdad as an attempt to stop the Soviet Union from making “deals” to secure the safety of its nationals.

The Kremlin, along with the United States, voted last week in the U.N. Security Council to authorize the use of military force if Iraq does not withdraw from Kuwait, and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze warned that the Kremlin would send troops to the region if Soviet citizens in Iraq were threatened.

Unlike the Americans, Western Europeans and Japanese detained in Iraq, several hundred of whom have been positioned as “human shields” at strategic locations, Soviet nationals have not been held as hostages. But like other foreigners, they were barred from leaving.

During the last visit by Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz to Moscow, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev insisted on the immediate return of the workers. Therefore, Churkin told a government news briefing, word of Iraq’s decision evoked satisfaction in Moscow. Officials had initially reacted Tuesday with skepticism and caution.

The Soviet Union “proceeds from the fact that our people can now leave Iraq and return home without hindrance,” Churkin said, reading from a Foreign Ministry statement. He expressed hope that Iraq’s “political assurances” will not remain mere words but will be translated into action.

The Soviet spokesman moved to play down speculation that his country might moderate its position on the Persian Gulf crisis in exchange for the safe return of its citizens, saying, “Our attitude will not change at all.”

President Saddam Hussein’s government had previously refused to let key foreign personnel leave until they had completed their contracts, but it regarded recent Soviet actions and expressions of concern about the Soviet workers as tantamount to threats.

One point of uncertainty remained, however. According to the Iraqi News Agency’s announcement Tuesday, the Soviet workers will be free to go as soon as Moscow agrees to compensate Iraq for the early termination of their contracts.

The Foreign Ministry statement read by Churkin makes no reference to such a deal having been made, however. Churkin said only that Moscow is willing to discuss the issue.

“Soviet representatives are prepared to resolve those questions in Baghdad,” he said. It was not immediately clear whether the Iraqis would consider that sufficient. Churkin also said he did not know how much the compensation might be.