U.S., Soviets See Progress In Arms Talks

MOSCOW--Secretary of State George Shultz and Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov met today while arms control experts from both sides worked for a possible agreement on removing medium-range missiles from Europe.

The session with Ryzhkov, expected to focus on Soviet economic policy, was scheduled to last about an hour. After a working lunch with his own aides, Shultz was to go to the Kremlin for a meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

In the meeting, Mikhail Gorbachev offered to eliminate Soviet shortrange nuclear weapons in Europe, which the official news agency Tass said went beyond arms control proposals he made last week.

It quoted the Soviet leader as saying to Secretary of State George Shultz during a four-hour meeting: "What are you afraid of? We are for a reliable agreement with the most stringent and all-embracing control."

Gorbachev said during a visit to Czechoslovakia last week that the Soviets would be willing to discuss reductions in tactical, or short-range, nuclear weapons apart from negotiations on eliminating mediumrange missiles from Europe. Washington says the Soviet advantage in tactical missiles is 130-0.

A dispute over the 130 shortrange Soviet weapons has delayed an agreement on medium-range missiles.

Shultz also planned a fourth, previously unscheduled meeting with Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. He met for more than seven hours Monday with Shevardnadze, and a U.S. official said alleged KGB bugging of the U.S. Embassy was the first item of discussion.

Radio Moscow said today that Shultz and Shevardnadze discussed "prospects for an agreement...to eliminate medium-range missiles" as well as security issues, humanitarian issues "and the working conditions of each other's embassies and diplomatic missions."

A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "The first item on Shultz's agenda was the question of problems created by Soviet espionage."

He refused to characterize the exchange or say how Shevardnadze reacted, except that the Soviet foreign minister "had some points to make."

Shultz has publicly accused Moscow of gathering intelligence at the embassy with the collusion of U.S. Marine guards and has said, "We're damned upset about it."

The State Department official made clear Shultz took the same approach in a two-hour, one-on-one discussion with Shevardnadze on Monday, the first day of Shultz's three-day visit.

The United States sent a special van to the embassy to ensure private communications between the Shultz delegation and officials in Washington during the visit.

About three dozen journalists were given a tour Monday of a new U.S. Embassy housing compound being constructed near the current mission. Congressional investigators said last week that Soviet construction workers had planted listening devices in both facilities.

One diplomat later said it would be "the dumbest thing in the world" to assume the walled compound was free of KGB bugs.

The Soviet news agency Tass, however, said U.S. allegations of Soviet espionage were a "cock-and-bull story" and that the Pentagon came up with the "spy scare" in an effort to undercut the State Department.

The U.S. official said Shultz also pressed Shevardnadze on human rights and "humanitarian concerns" during their morning meeting.

"It was a full and extensive exchange, including specific cases as well as principles," he said.

Shultz and Shevardnadze also met for more than three hours Monday afternoon with the two nations' top arms control advisers. They continued those talks in a third session late at night to work through what officials called an extensive agenda. The long day of talks ended with a half-hour private session between the two foreign ministers.

"The meetings were serious and businesslike," said Charles E. Redman, the State Department spokesman. "There is a lot of work on the agenda, and the two sides worked energetically to make their way through that agenda."

Tass said Shultz and Shevardnadze were "considering in a concrete way" the prospects for an agreement to remove medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe.

U.S. officials say a Euromissile pact would be the most promising result of the Geneva-based superpower arms control talks. But they have cautioned against expecting a breakthrough toward a treaty during the current visit.