Senators Expect Summit in ‘86, Possibly in California

American senators monitoring the U.S.-Soviet arms talks Thursday forecast a superpower summit in November or December--not in Washington but possibly at President Reagan’s California ranch or somewhere else in the Southwest.

Any Soviet rejection of a summit between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev this year would be a “deception” and also signify a “real cooling off in relations,” they told reporters.

San Diego and Tucson are other possibilities along with the Reagan ranch outside Santa Barbara, the senators said.

The two leaders agreed at their Geneva summit last year to meet again in the United States this year.

Meeting with U.S. and Soviet negotiators in the middle of the current fifth round of talks were Sens. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) Usually, six or more senators visit Geneva during each round to check on the prevailing situation.

Only Slight Gains

In the 14-month-old arms talks, the lawmakers reported some “very slow” progress on medium-range nuclear missiles but nothing accomplished on strategic long-range weapons or defensive space systems.

Stevens, leader of the Senate observer group, said the fact that only three came this time is due to election campaigning at home rather than the current stalemate at the negotiations.

Asked about prospects for a new summit, the senators all said they believe that one will occur before year’s end.

“We are looking at late November or early December,” Stevens said, with the President possibly suggesting somewhere in the Southwest rather than Washington.

He said Gorbachev appears to be “very astute” about the different regions in the Soviet Union but “doesn’t seem to realize the scope and breadth of differences” of the United States.

Gore said “people in the White House” have mentioned that Gorbachev could agree to go to the Reagan ranch.

‘In Learning Period’

The senators said Gorbachev seems to still be “in the learning period” about arms control and for the time being has other priorities.

Stevens predicted there will not be any progress at the talks until Gorbachev “gets people around him” who are interested in arms agreements.

Currently, he said, “we are unable to identify who is calling the tune” on arms control in Moscow.

Additionally, Soviet negotiators “obviously don’t have the same degree of flexibility” as the American delegates, Stevens said.

Gore said, “there is at least a meaningful dialogue” on medium-range weapons with Moscow dropping any linkage to U.S. “Star Wars” space defense research--”for the purpose of negotiation.”