Reagan’s Arms Plan No Help on Summit: Pravda

MOSCOW —  President Reagan’s latest arms control proposal has failed to remove the obstacles to another superpower summit, the newspaper Pravda said today.

The authoritative newspaper accused the White House of orchestrating a campaign of leaks to give the impression that Reagan’s letter to Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev two weeks ago had answered Moscow’s terms for a summit.

The leaks were “clearly designed to create the impression that the possibility of a new summit meeting and its success depend on further concessions from the Soviet Union,” Pravda said.

“Facts indicate that while Moscow’s letter in June contained new major compromise proposals, one cannot see any reciprocal moves in Washington’s letter in July,” the Communist Party newspaper said.

Gorbachev’s Proposals

Gorbachev in June proposed cuts in missiles as well as a 15-year extension of the anti-ballistic missile treaty, which would prevent deployment of the “Star Wars” missile defense system.

Reagan, according to the leaks, replied with proposals for missile cuts but only a five- to seven-year ban on deployment of “Star Wars” to be followed by deployment.

Pravda accused Reagan of seeking military superiority and said he “talks on the terms of military rivalries in outer space” instead of preventing an arms race in space.

The newspaper said Reagan offered to eliminate the intercontinental ballistic missiles, which Moscow depends on, but offered no cuts in U.S. cruise missiles aboard long-range bombers or on ships.