Lawmakers Urge Gorbachev to Pursue Gulf Peace Efforts

The Soviet legislasture Saturday mandated that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev pursue efforts with Iraq and the United States aimed at finding a peaceful settlement to the Persian Gulf crisis.

Deputies backed a resolution recommending that Gorbachev “carry out additional steps with the Iraqi leadership, the United States and other parties involved in the interests of using political means of doing away with this sharp center of tension in the Persian Gulf.”

It did not specify what these additional steps might be.

The White House said Friday that Gorbachev, in a telephone conversation with President Bush, offered several new ideas to avert war over Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.

It gave no clue as to what these ideas might be beyond saying that Moscow remained firmly committed to implementation of U.N. resolutions. These have called on Iraq to pull out of Kuwait by Jan. 15 or face military action from a U.S.-led multinational force.

The Supreme Soviet resolution, supported by 312 votes with 27 against and 36 abstentions, appealed to all sides in the conflict to pursue efforts “to find a political settlement to the crisis and not allow a military conflict.”

Such a conflict, it said, would have “catastrophic consequences.”