Soviets Launch Mideast Initiative in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria —  Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze arrived here Friday at the start of a new Soviet peace initiative in the Middle East.

Diplomats said that Shevardnadze’s visit to Damascus, the first by a high-ranking Soviet official in four years, is likely to be the most difficult of his 10-day tour of the region.

“Here you have an old friend, but one you have problems with,” a senior Western diplomat said.

Shevardnadze will find an array of problems to deal with in Syria, including this country’s failure to pay for military purchases. There are also political strains, although Syria for many years was considered Moscow’s closest Mideast ally.

After Syria, Shevardnadze will travel to Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Iran.

His visit to Jordan will be the first ever made by a Soviet foreign minister, and his trip to Cairo will symbolize an improvement in the Kremlin’s relations with Egypt. In Iran, he is also expected to capitalize on a recent warming in bilateral ties.

The Syrians owe Moscow an estimated $15 billion for arms, and that debt is believed to have been partly responsible for a Soviet rebuff last year when Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Talas traveled to Moscow to buy more weapons.

Moreover, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has expressed skepticism, because of cost, about the wisdom of Syrian President Hafez Assad’s hope to achieve “strategic parity” with Israel.

The Syrians, in an apparent effort to find alternative arms suppliers, have reportedly opened talks with China and North Korea.

The Soviets and Syrians have in recent months found themselves to be at odds on a wide range of regional issues. These include policy disputes over the Palestine Liberation Organization, which the Soviets have urged to adopt a more moderate line to ensure that it has a place in any peace negotiations. Damascus has made no secret of its contempt for the growing moderation of PLO leader Yasser Arafat, a long-time enemy of Assad.

The Syrians are reportedly distressed at the rapprochement of the Soviet Union and the United States because they calculate that any superpower agreement to defuse the Middle East crisis may come at Syria’s expense.

The superpowers have succeeded in helping to settle regional conflicts in such diverse areas as Cambodia, Afghanistan and Angola, and since President Bush took office, superpower attention seems to be turning toward the Middle East.

Before leaving Moscow, Shevardnadze spoke of a need for a vigorous push toward Middle East peace, although he cautioned against high short-term expectations.

“The Soviet Union, inseparably connected with the region geographically, historically and politically, should and can make its contribution to settling drawn-out and extremely painful conflicts and to establishing lasting peace,” Shevardnadze said. “Of course, the nature of the conflicts is such that no dramatic effect can be expected in the course of the 10-day visit.”