Brezhnev makes oblique call for direct talks with Reagan

Press, 25 February 1981, Page 9

Brezhnev makes oblique call for direct talks with Reagan

. Moscow The Soviet leader, Leonid BreZlinev, frequently stumbling; -over his words in a Icng jspeech- to the opening session of the Soviet Communist Party Congress, has hinted that' he wants !direct talks-? with President Ronald Reagan. . . --

:=;e said; the state of relationsy. between Washington and;;Moscow required an active;, dialogue at ail levels. “Experience shows that the crucial link here is meetings at summit level. This was true yesterday and is still today,” he said. Referring to harsh attacks on Moscow by the Reagan Adrtiihistration in its first day|-in office, he accused Washington of trying to- poison "the atmosphere for improved ties.

But the general tone of his references to the new United States Administration was '.moderate and controlled. , ■

Iri Washington, the Secretary. of State (Mr Alexander Haig) said that Mr Brezhnev’s speech contained some new and • remarkable innovations and was being studied carefully. •The speech, lasting three hours 40. minutes, plainly

made great., physical demands on the 74-year-old Kremlin chief, whose health has been uncertain in recent years. • • - • - ■ ■ In a 100-rhinute' extract shown on Soviet. television/ his voice sank to little more than a mumble at many points. But. he rallied visibly ■ towards the end and received! : a prolonged ovation from : the nearly 5000 delegates. . : Western Communists attending the tessioh said thut in spite of occasional \ difficulties Mr Brezhnev made the key points of his speech with clarity. ? Mr Brezhnev coupled his apparent call for a meeting with Mr Reagan with an indication . that .? Moscow might change its mind and accept new negotiations on the stalled second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (S.A.L.T. II). And, proclaiming that the maintenance of peace was the cornerstone of Soviet foreign policy, he set forth ei„ht ... tposals aimed at solving imoortant world issues. Mr Brezhnev restated a nronncal first made in 1979 that the Soviet Union would stop deploying SS2O nuclear missiles targeted on Western Europe if the North Atlantic

Treaty Organisation dropped plans to deploy mediumrange weapons. i He said there should be a freeze by the Western alliance and Moscow on new missiles but it would have to apply to United. States forward-based systems , -ih and. near- Europe, which included planes and submarines. ’.I

Commenting on Mr Brezhnev’s apparent wish .'for talks with Mr Reagan, Western . diplomats, expressed some scepticism at the proposal. They said it did not appear to have been put privately to Washington. “They (the Soviet leadership) don’t float serious proposals at a party congress or at the United Nations or without first discussing them privately,’’’ one Western diplomat said. “I think .they’re serious about wanting a dialogue but I don’t know about a summit.”

Western diplomats also said that Mr Brezhnev’s report appeared to have contained few new hard points on most important issues.

The report also proposed that the two super-Powers should agree'to limit development of new nuclear siib-

i marines and the rocket I weaponry: for them. i Mr Brezhnev- /expressed ' readiness to extend so-called military confidence-bhilding measures . ?<F- X? known as C.B.M.S. in. diplomatic jargon — to cover the entiic European territory .of the Soviet Union., - ■-? . ? This was a clear response ■to a French proposal tabled with the support of the entire Western alliance at The current Madrid European Security? Conference, calling for binding and verifiable rules to reduce the risk* of surprise attack to Jje? applied throughout Europe from, the Atlantic;to the Urals. ." Undet ? ?•; present. rules, worked out under the umbrella of the 1975 Helsinki European Security . Conference, states of the continent have to advise each other of military exercises close to each other’s borders.. But the report said the West itself would have to reciprocate with corresponding measures for the extension of C.B.M.s up to the Urals. At Madrid. Soviet delegates have indicated that they would expect the United States and Canada toi-

be included in the area covered in return for the Soviet concession.';. •■ He _ also suggested a conference to develop con-fidence-building measures in the Far East.. On ' Afghanistan, the Brezhnev report said Soviet troops sent into the country, in December, 1979, could only be withdrawn after reliable: guarantees had been given that ho'?“new intervention” would:be mounted by outside' forces. This is the standard Moscow line. Mr Brezhnev suggested that "a. competent national ./•cdgim'jtte’e >,Should be set up,Which would demonstrate; the vital;, necessity of preventing . a nuclear; catastrophe! ‘The committee could be composed, of. the most ; eminent scientists of different ’ countries. The whole world should be informed of the conclusions they draw.” “It would be useful to call a special session of the Se-| curity Council (of the United Nations) with the participation of the top leaders of its member-States in order .to look- for keys to improving the . international situation and preventing war. 1 ’