Point and Counterpoint

Monday, Jan. 03, 1983 By JOHN KOHAN

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Andropov formalizes an offer, but the U.S. and its allies say no

Every one of the 5,000 seats in the Kremlin's huge, modernistic Palace of Congresses was filled as Communist Party General Secretary Yuri Andropov and his eleven colleagues on the ruling Politburo filed on stage last week. The new Soviet leader moved slowly to his place beneath a monumental bust of Lenin, turning to acknowledge Communist leaders who had come from as far as Cuba and Viet Nam to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet Union. Dressed in a smartly tailored blue suit and maroon tie, Andropov looked well-rested and healthier than he had five weeks earlier at the funeral of his predecessor, Leonid Brezhnev. But his sober demeanor suggested that he had reserved an important message for his first major televised speech to the nation.

As he delivered his address in calm, measured tones, it soon became clear that his words were truly directed to an audience outside the Soviet Union. He publicly confirmed an offer that Soviet negotiators at the Geneva talks on intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe had only been hinting at in their informal discussions with U.S. diplomats. The Soviet Union, Andropov said, would be willing to "reduce hundreds of missiles" aimed at Western Europe if the NATO alliance reversed its decision to deploy 572 Pershing II and cruise missiles in five West European countries starting late next year. According to Andropov, the Soviets would keep in Europe "only as many missiles as are kept there by Britain and France, and not a single one more." He did not cite any figures, but arms experts interpreted the proposal as an offer to dismantle an estimated 280 SS-4 and SS-5 missiles and reduce the arsenal of SS-20s in Europe to 162, the number of ballistic missiles deployed by France and Britain.

The alliance rejected the Andropov offer with near unanimity, though some members interpreted the speech as a possible signal that Moscow was ready to bargain. Within hours, U.S. State Department Spokesman John Hughes termed the proposal "unacceptable." It would, he said, leave the U.S. without a way "to deter the threat" of any remaining Soviet missiles targeted on Western Europe. In November 1981, Reagan had called on Moscow to dismantle all its intermediate-range arsenal in both Europe and Asia in return for a NATO promise not to deploy new nuclear missiles.

France and Britain were especially irritated by the Soviet attempt to include their nuclear forces in a broader NATO deal. Asked French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson: "What does Mr. Andropov want, that we integrate ourselves into the Atlantic Alliance, that our missiles come under American control?" Although the British are less categorical than the French in their refusal to allow their nuclear force to be the subject of negotiations, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dismissed Andropov's offer as inadequate to "keep the essential balance which is required for our security."