Soviet Media, Citizens Praise Geneva Accord

MOSCOW —  The Geneva agreement to negotiate on nuclear and space weapons was welcomed here Wednesday as a triumph of Kremlin diplomacy that will reduce fears of superpower confrontation.

Both the state-run media and ordinary citizens hailed the outcome of talks between Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

“Fears vanished with the news--there will be negotiations,” reported Izvestia, the government newspaper, in its account of the Geneva meeting.

“I’m glad. It’s a step toward peace,” said a middle-age man, plodding through heavy snow outside the central market.

“It’s time for better relations with the United States,” said a fur-hatted woman waiting for a trolley.

Government and Communist Party officials said they will not be ready to offer formal comment for another week or 10 days.

A commentary in Tass, the government news agency, emphasized that the proposal for negotiations came from the Soviet side, despite the Kremlin’s expressed doubts about U.S. sincerity.

“The ball is now in the West’s court,” said Tass political analyst Yuri Kornilov. “One would like to express the hope that the U.S.A. will walk its part of the way with full realization of the responsibility which rests with both great powers.”

Kornilov added a note of caution. “Certain quarters in the U.S.A. have not at all renounced their stake on achieving military superiority, this time through outer space,” he said. “There is no doubt that a long and difficult road lies ahead.”

Izvestia said there were “two tense days” in Geneva because of Soviet fears that the United States would block agreement on future talks. “But although the discussion (between Shultz and Gromyko) was difficult,” it said, “a mutual desire to begin new negotiations won out.”

Reflecting the conciliatory tone, the main television news program not only showed Gromyko reading his Geneva departure statement, it also pictured Shultz telling reporters that the agreement represented a new beginning in the arms talks.

Kremlin Acceptance Despite the media claims of Soviet success, Western diplomats said privately that the Kremlin appeared to accept the basic outlines of an American plan for the talks.

The Soviets never mentioned their previous insistence on removal of U.S. Pershing 2 and cruise missiles from Europe before talks could start. Instead, they shifted the focus and said President Reagan’s research program on space-based defenses would have to be shelved before progress could be made on reducing strategic and intermediate-range missiles.

Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, carried the text of the joint Soviet-American statement in Geneva, along with a photograph of Shultz and Gromyko, without any comment.

Gromkyo, who returned from Geneva to a low-key welcome, was expected to make a full report to the Politburo today at its regular weekly meeting.

That may provide an opportunity for Soviet President Konstantin U. Chernenko to issue his first public comment on the outcome of the Geneva meeting. He and other Soviet leaders have said that the Soviet Union is ready for the “most radical” solutions to make progress toward the complete abolition of nuclear weapons.