Russia Seeks Wider Accord With NATO : Military: Moscow’s defense minister presents the proposal in Brussels. It would go beyond the Partnership for Peace program.

Russia on Wednesday proposed beginning broad talks with NATO on a wide range of issues, from nuclear proliferation to the environment--beyond its latest decision to join the Partnership for Peace program.

The plan, unveiled at a NATO-sponsored meeting by Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev, appeared to be aimed partly at domestic consumption, to show hard-liners at home that Russia is still holding its own in dealing with the West.

Grachev did not make his proposal a condition for Russia’s joining the Partnership for Peace program, which was set up by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization five months ago to provide an opportunity for closer links with former East Bloc countries.

The Russians, who submitted their preliminary application for the program Tuesday, are expected to join formally as early as June, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers scheduled to be held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Even so, the Western response to Grachev was lukewarm at best. Although the NATO defense ministers seemed relieved that Russia had not set conditions for its entry into the program, they seemed cool to the notion of broader talks.

U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry, asked about the plan at a news conference later, said only that what Grachev is proposing is “set up along different parameters” than the Partnership for Peace program.

He declined to comment on the substance of the request.

Western officials said they still are not sure how NATO would respond to the proposal. Besides proliferation and the environment, Grachev listed defense conversion and disarmament as possible topics in any broader talks.

Wednesday’s session marked the first time that the NATO defense ministers and their counterparts from countries in the Partnership for Peace program have met as a group. So far, 18 governments, representing East European and ex-Soviet countries, have signed up.

Perry, noting that for most of its existence the alliance had been devoted to defending the West against the now-defunct Warsaw Pact, called a NATO session held Tuesday “a major step in removing the dividing line between East and West.”

Although Russia submitted its initial “protocol” Tuesday, Western defense ministers seemed encouraged that Grachev himself attended the entire meeting here. The group later went to Mons, Belgium, to tour a new Partnership for Peace center there.

Until this week, Western officials had feared that Russia might seek some sort of special status as a condition for joining the program--leading to worries among some East Europeans that it was trying to dominate the group. But Grachev made it clear Wednesday that Moscow would not press such demands as a condition for membership in the program.

“We are not setting any preconditions for joining,” he told reporters.

He also announced that as part of its new role in the Partnership for Peace program, Russia would be willing to join NATO forces in a wide variety of operations, from peacekeeping duties to joint military exercises.

In that connection, the United States and Russia announced Tuesday that they will go ahead with previous plans to hold joint military exercises this summer, despite indications earlier that they might be canceled.

In outlining his proposal for broader consultations between Russia and NATO, Grachev argued that existing talks are proving inadequate for the job, and that Russia and the West need a new vehicle for widening their current agenda.

While praising the Partnership for Peace program as a “first step” in bringing the two sides closer, he said it is “not the complete answer to the reality of the new epoch.”

“Russia is prepared for the creation of a real and full strategic partnership with NATO,” Grachev declared. He called his plan “a practical step on the road to the formation of a system of collective security.”

Although Grachev’s proposal for broader talks was not likely to upset existing Western diplomatic machinery, analysts said it has the potential to turn NATO into a political forum well beyond its historic role as a military alliance.