Gorbachev offers to abolish all nukes within 15 years as arms talks resume By Michael J. Bonafield The Washington Times Foreign Service Geneva Switzerland -- U.S. and Soviet arms control negotiators begin thelr fourth round of talks today with an offer from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbacher to abolish nuclear weapons within 15 years However, a precondition of Mr. Gorbachev's three-stage proposal called For eilmlnation of Presidenr Reapan's Srrate- Elc Deiense Initiative, makine it doubtful thai ir uould ever be accepted b!' the United States While little of substance substance is expected to emerSr from the talks, the! are seen as a tca of how rnuch L'.S.-So\iet relarions have improved since the Norember sum- mer And as a gesture ol good a ill. Xlr Gorbachev offered a three-monrh er;ren- sj,, of the Sa\iet Union's freeze on un- dersround nuciear testlne. ir 3 statement isrucd al the White Housc . Reaaan said. "i Helcome the Soviets larcsr respanse and hope that jr represents a helpful funhcr step in the process We topether \r.ith our allies. will Fl\r' c'arcful study to General Secretar!' Gol hacher's sug;esrions Hr noted, hou'e\'er. thar msn) elements zonlained in the proposal are unchanrrd from previous Kremlin positions and conrinue to cause serlous coni`rl-n Tbc U.S. team is led b\' Ambessador Max liampclman, the Sov;et side b? \'ik- Karpov The talks arc belnR held at rhe Zo\ier misslon to the United Ntltions tlrl-c First on rhe agenda is a Sorier response to an American groposal tabled on Ihc e\c of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit. Ir called for saeeping reducrions m the numher of nuclear aarheads. inler- contlnenral ballistic missiies end long range bombers in each arsenal, in addition 10 CUCbaCkS in the number of medium-range missiies depio!'ed m Europe. When the rhird round of talks adjourned on Nov. 10, nine days belore the three-da!. meetlnF bet\reen hlr Hrapan and alr. Gorbachec Mr. E;ampeiman said he belielrd that "it had been a productive round. although Ke nould hare preferred to be furrher aione toward an aereement" DurinF the summit, the president and rhe So\iet Communisr Parr! leader devoted considerable tlmc to the arms tall;s, hut rhe outcome of rhosf "fireside chats." as blr Rearan descrlhed rhem. \r-as not known. Jln Gorbachev's proposal, read b! an announceron Soviet television ! esrerda!: ourlined a rhree-scaee plan for "riddlnF the canh of nuclear neapons" within 15 \ ears. It appeared to hinee on C.S aban honment of the proposed Srrateeic De- fense Initlatire, a research propram Tor the de\ elopmenr ofa space-based mlssile defense s\'stem. Ar rhe same time, hlr. Gorbachev sajd the Soriers will elrtend a unilareral moratorium on nuclear testlng for another three months. The unilateral ban rr, testing was announced by the Kremlin in Aueusl and expired Jan, 1. Mr. Gorbachev said the first stage af his pian rr as For each side ro reduce b half the nuciear arms that can reach each or her's terriror?'. a stage that rrould occur \rirhln the next fl\ e ro eiphr !ears. Bur, in an obvious reEerence to SD1, the statement sald. "Such a reduclion Is possible onl\ if the Soviet Cnion and the Cnited Srarei mutuall\- renounce the development, testing and deplopment of spact strike \r'eapon The firn staer of rhe:`l\ier plan wouid in\.ol\.e ..adoption and implementarion of the dccisitrn on the conlplete eliminatlon ol Inlermedlate-ranar missiles of the C SP R. and the CS.r\. In thc Europeall zone. both ballistio and cl ulse missiles:' hll. Gorbachev said. .:41 the second stape. ffhjch should slart no laler than 18u0 and last for fi\e ro se\-en years, the olhcr nuclear powers \rill hepin ro enpaee In nuclear disarma- ment rhe Soviet ieader said. "They rrould pledge to freeze all their nuclear arms and not to ha\'c rhem in the terriror- ies of orher counrnes. The reference apparently was to the independent nuciear forces of France. Britain and China. Mr. Gorhache\. said sffcr the super- powers have reduced their "relevant arms" by SO percent all nuclenr powers would be called on to elimiMte their tsc tical nuclear anns. The rhird stage, to begin no Later than 1995. Mr. Cocbechev said, cells for elimination of all remaining nuclear weapons on earth and a universal agreement not to bring them inro being . apaln. ..And when does the tooth fairv come!" asked Defense Forecasr's BBrr\ XI. Blechman in Washington "Nuclear weapons arr a 40-vear-old technoiog! There's no wa~ you can erase human knolriedge The abolition of nuclear \h eapons Is not golne, to hapPen and can'r happen. We have ro learn ho\r to lire Hirh rhrm." The superpoR.ers can reduce the num- bers and particular t!pes ol nuciear weapons lhrough Ilegorlarlons, he sald. bur '.it's not helpful to raise unrealisric expectarions. whether it's from Gorba- che\: Keagan or Carter' Obse r\'ers here have long expected the So\iers to mount a new carnpaign ru \rin maJor concesslons from the Uniled States on SDt Last October. durinp his state visit fo Francc. hlr Gorbache\ calicd for a 50 percent reducr lon in Ihe num bcr oT o ffcn sive lluciear ~ eapona held h! the super'- po\rers but tied rhe offer io T.S willing lless ro halr SDI research lin H"ashinpton. So\ iet diplomar Vadim E;uznetzo\' promised Tuesday rhai the Soviers would meer..an! chalienae" posed by SDI and that his country's s coun- termeasures u ould be taken "at a frac- tion ol the cost:'] Xlr Reagan has stated repeatedly that - the L:nired States would nor compromlse : on SDI. The United States countered Mr. Cor-- bache\.'s "50 percenr solution" with a broad offer that would, among other things, put a lid of 4.500 on the number of nuclear rarheads allowed by each I side. That is rhe offer the Soviers are ex- pecred to respond to toda?l This onicle is based in part on wire senrice reports