Ussr Foreign Relations Persian Gulf

Following the social trauma of the war in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union would not be able to send troops to a war in the Persian Gulf, one of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's top foreign policy aides said Saturday. Georgi Shakhnazarov, who is one of Gorbachev's closest advisers, said in an interview that neither the legislature nor the general public would tolerate a "military adventure" less than two years after the February, 1989, withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The EUROPEAN COMMUNITY sent two environmental experts to Saudi Arabia to coordinate the response of EC nations to the massive oil spills in the Persian Gulf, officials said in Brussels. FRANCE'S new defense minister, Pierre Joxe, went to Saudi Arabia to reassure French troops there that they have the full backing of the government. SPAIN'S foreign minister, Francisco Fernandez Ordonez, said he will visit Arab North African states next week to discuss the war.

The EUROPEAN COMMUNITY sent two environmental experts to Saudi Arabia to coordinate the response of EC nations to the massive oil spills in the Persian Gulf, officials said in Brussels. FRANCE'S new defense minister, Pierre Joxe, went to Saudi Arabia to reassure French troops there that they have the full backing of the government. SPAIN'S foreign minister, Francisco Fernandez Ordonez, said he will visit Arab North African states next week to discuss the war.

The Soviet Union, afraid that the war in the Persian Gulf could spread through the Middle East and become protracted with mounting casualties, is stepping up its diplomatic efforts to secure a political resolution, probably based on a cease-fire and Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait, a senior member of the Soviet leadership said Saturday. Alexander S.

In the Reagan Administration's increasingly strident campaign to win congressional and public support for its plan to protect Kuwaiti tankers in the war-torn Persian Gulf, it is emphasizing two objectives: keeping the gulf open to international oil traffic and preempting a Soviet drive for greater influence in the area. Both goals seem vital to American interests, and U.S. policy-makers have pursued them for years under Democratic and Republican Presidents.

Senior U.S. and Soviet officials will meet next month in a neutral European country to confer on problems in the Persian Gulf, prospects for Mideast peace talks and the protracted war in Afghanistan, according to Washington sources. Richard W. Murphy, assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, will ask senior Soviet diplomat Vladimir P. Polyakov for help in steering a resolution through the U.N.

The Soviet Union offered Tuesday to withdraw its naval task force from the Persian Gulf--but only if the United States, Britain and France do the same. Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Pyadyshev also said Soviet withdrawal of its fleet--three minesweepers, a frigate and a communications ship--is conditional on efforts to end the Iran-Iraq War.

Vernon A. Walters, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Saturday concluded talks with Soviet officials and said he is "very hopeful" of reaching an agreement on international measures to end the Iran-Iraq War. Walters shrugged off Soviet charges Friday that the United States is aggravating the situation in the Persian Gulf through its military buildup, emphasizing the portion of the statement that called for international action.

Another attempt by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to arrange a truce in the Persian Gulf War appears to have failed, deepening a conviction shared by diplomats and Arab officials that no early end is in sight to the seven-year-old conflict between Iran and Iraq. This, in turn, poses difficult questions for the United States. Its naval forces in the gulf appear increasingly to be mired in a conflict they can neither end nor withdraw from without seriously damaging U.S.

The State Department's top Middle East expert said Thursday that the United States is ready to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers to upset Iranian plans to dominate the Persian Gulf region, preserve free navigation in international waters and avoid what could be a ruinous surge in oil prices. While conceding that the action could result in armed clashes between the United States and Iran, Assistant Secretary of State Richard W.

Foreign Minister Alexander A. BESSMERTNYKH met with members of the Executive Committee of the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION to explore possible ways to end the war. Bessmertnykh called on all nations, including Israel, to prevent the spread of the war. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Soviets will continue to honor their friendship with Iraq because "as soon as the conflict is over, Iraq will rejoin the international community and we will resume friendly relations."

Following the social trauma of the war in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union would not be able to send troops to a war in the Persian Gulf, one of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's top foreign policy aides said Saturday. Georgi Shakhnazarov, who is one of Gorbachev's closest advisers, said in an interview that neither the legislature nor the general public would tolerate a "military adventure" less than two years after the February, 1989, withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Tuesday sent his chief foreign policy adviser on a "delicate" mission to Washington, Paris and Rome in the hope, a Soviet spokesman said, of avoiding war in the Persian Gulf. Yevgeny M. Primakov, a member of Gorbachev's Presidential Council, will meet Friday with President Bush in Washington after talks in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and in Paris with French President Francois Mitterrand.

High-ranking Soviet officials sounded a new note of alarm Thursday over the U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf region, complaining that the strategic balance in an area near the Soviet Union is being altered to Moscow's detriment.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev's success at the recent Communist Party conference, particularly the proposed presidential system that would place him at the head of a powerful government as well as the Communist Party, strengthens his pursuit of a key goal: dispelling the West's perception that the Soviet Union poses a military threat. Although Gorbachev convened the conference to deal with domestic affairs, U.S.

The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was portrayed in an influential Soviet publication as a ruthless dictator seeking to increase his personal power without regard for the people of Iran. An article in the Literary Gazette said he allowed 12-year-olds to enlist as front-line soldiers in the war with Iraq after declaring that the supreme honor is to die for Islam. The article was written by Igor Beylaev, an expert on Middle East affairs with ties to the Communist Party Central Committee.

Kuwait said Saturday that it will not allow the United States or any other foreign power to establish military facilities on its territory, apparently ruling out the use of Kuwaiti airfields for U.S. warplanes providing air cover to U.S. Navy ships operating in the Persian Gulf. Nevertheless, there was growing evidence that, in seeking U.S.

Foreign Minister Alexander A. BESSMERTNYKH met with members of the Executive Committee of the PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION to explore possible ways to end the war. Bessmertnykh called on all nations, including Israel, to prevent the spread of the war. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the Soviets will continue to honor their friendship with Iraq because "as soon as the conflict is over, Iraq will rejoin the international community and we will resume friendly relations."

Another attempt by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to arrange a truce in the Persian Gulf War appears to have failed, deepening a conviction shared by diplomats and Arab officials that no early end is in sight to the seven-year-old conflict between Iran and Iraq. This, in turn, poses difficult questions for the United States. Its naval forces in the gulf appear increasingly to be mired in a conflict they can neither end nor withdraw from without seriously damaging U.S.

One of the most arresting sights in the latest Persian Gulf crisis presented itself shortly after the supertanker Bridgeton hit a mine while under escort by American warships. The Bridgeton, a re-registered Kuwaiti tanker now flying the American flag, was able to continue despite the damage, but the American warships took up what many saw as a humiliating position astern of the much larger tanker.