
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 17, 1991                   TAG: 9102170089
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

SOVIETS SAY IRAQI PULLOUT STILL REQUIRED

The United States and the Soviet Union closed ranks Saturday as the Soviet leadership rejected Iraqi conditions for a pullout from Kuwait and President Bush expressed confidence the Kremlin would not compromise in a new round of high-level diplomacy with Iraq.

As Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz prepared to leave for talks with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev planned Monday, Bush said he had received "very fresh" assurances that the Soviet leadership would stand firm against any departure from United Nations resolutions calling for the unconditional withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. Gorbachev has been "very solid" and played a "constructive role," Bush told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he is spending the weekend.

Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Vitaly Churkin told a news conference in Moscow that Iraq's statement Friday indicating a willingness to pull out of Kuwait under numerous conditions was not acceptable to the Soviet leadership, but might be an "initial step" toward a diplomatic solution. Churkin said Soviet leaders would use the Aziz visit to explore Baghdad's intentions in greater detail.

Gorbachev, speaking to a delegation of European Community foreign ministers, said Saturday it was "never too late" to make "maximum use of diplomatic-political methods" to end the Persian Gulf War. The Soviet leader sent Bush a letter Thursday, U.S. officials said, outlining his hopes for the Aziz meeting and asking that any allied ground offensive be delayed until after the Iraqi minister's visit. Bush agreed to do so, but alliance officials said Saturday that no major ground offensive had been imminent anyway.

Notwithstanding Bush's outward expression of confidence, senior U.S. policy-makers are watching the diplomacy in Moscow with intense interest. They expect it to be a critical test of whether Iraq is serious about leaving Kuwait and also a challenge to Gorbachev, who is under pressure both from Soviet hard-liners sympathetic to Iraq and from international coalition members committed to the U.N. resolutions against Iraq. Several high-ranking officials predicted Iraq would seek Moscow's help in arranging a cease-fire or other initiatives to split the coalition.

by CNB