Soviet Radar Imperils ABM Pact, U.S. Says

WASHINGTON —  In the biggest superpower spat since the May summit, a U.S.-Soviet arms control meeting in Geneva broke up Wednesday with the Soviets refusing to dismantle a radar station that the United States insists violates the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

In a statement, the United States declared that new nuclear arms agreements would be “impossible” until the huge radar facility in Krasnoyarsk, in Soviet Central Asia, is leveled. The statement added that the United States would consider retaliation for the violation, possibly by declaring the radar station to be a “material breach” of the ABM Treaty. That move would legally set the stage for the United States to abrogate the treaty.

The 1972 ABM Treaty is the cornerstone of U.S.-Soviet arms control efforts. Terminating it would wipe out much of the new warmth in U.S.-Soviet relations, create turmoil among U.S. allies and inject a major new issue into the presidential campaign.

‘Very Strong Statement’

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said the U.S. pronouncement at the end of the Geneva meeting was “a very strong statement, probably stronger than we’ve made before” on the radar issue.

At the same time, State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley pointed out that the statement does not represent “a new departure in policy” because its substance had been “publicly and repeatedly” stated previously.

In any case, no U.S. action is expected until after a visit here by Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze late this month, according to several U.S. officials. The Soviets have said informally that they intend to address the radar issue as well as other arms control matters at that meeting, according to a U.S. official.

Moreover, a Pentagon-led study of “appropriate and proportionate responses” will not be completed until Nov. 1, the official added. This makes it highly unlikely that a major foreign policy decision risking collapse of U.S.-Soviet arms control efforts would be made on the eve of the Nov. 8 election, he said, although President Reagan still could act before he leaves office in January.

First Seen in 1983

The controversial Soviet phased-array radar, consisting of two 10-story-tall buildings, was first spotted in 1983 and was immediately branded by the United States as a violation of the ABM treaty. The treaty requires that early warning radar be built only on the periphery of each nation and that it must face outward. In contrast, the Krasnoyarsk station is almost 3,000 miles from the northeast Soviet border.

The treaty, whose basic aim is to prohibit either side from building a nationwide missile defense shield, puts strict limits on radar for several reasons. Radar stations inside a country could perform the vital “battle management” tasks for a nationwide defense network, determining the precise targets of incoming warheads and ordering the most efficient firing of interceptor missiles against them. Radar stations also require the longest construction time of the elements of an anti-missile network, so their appearance could be the first sign that an illegal network was under construction.

After years of rebuffing U.S. complaints about the Krasnoyarsk facility, the Soviets last year came close to officially acknowledging that it violates the treaty. They stopped work on the station and allowed a U.S. congressional team to visit and film the empty interiors. They also have offered to dismantle it in exchange for U.S. concessions.

At a July meeting at the White House, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department opposed declaring the radar station a “material breach” of the ABM treaty and ushering in the unsettled atmosphere that would follow such a declaration. They argued that there is no treaty-violating project that the United States wants to undertake now, while the Soviets are prepared to build a national anti-missile network relatively quickly if the ABM treaty is terminated.

But the Pentagon, the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the CIA and key presidential advisers such as then-Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. maintained that the buildings at Krasnoyarsk, as long as they stand, can be speedily outfitted with radar equipment and that the Soviets should not be allowed to benefit from illegal behavior.

Compromise by Reagan

Reagan compromised, ordering that the Krasnoyarsk issue be pressed as the main item at a review conference on the ABM treaty but also directing the Pentagon to begin studying appropriate responses--including the possibility of declaring the station a “material breach”--in the event that the Soviets refused to dismantle it.

The U.S. statement issued at the end of the Geneva meeting Wednesday said that throughout the conference, the Soviets “gave no indication” that they would correct the violation without obtaining U.S. concessions of some kind.