U.S., Soviets Meet on A-Tests
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MOSCOW — The chief of a team of U.S. nuclear test experts met Saturday with Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir F. Petrovsky on the eve of their visit to the Soviet test site in Central Asia.
Radio Moscow reported that Petrovsky discussed with Robert Barker, head of the American team, the Soviet proposal for an immediate halt in nuclear testing while U.S.-Soviet negotiators continue their talks on nuclear explosions. Washington has previously rejected the proposal.
The 20-member American team is visiting the Soviet Union to help prepare joint experiments aimed at improving verification methods to ensure compliance with existing nuclear test ban treaties.
The visit to the test site at Semipalatinsk in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, 1,700 miles southeast of Moscow, will be the first ever by U.S. officials. Barker, who as chief of the American delegation to the U.S.-Soviet Nuclear Testing Talks in Geneva has ambassadorial rank, arrived Friday.
The Americans’ trip to the Soviet Union will be followed Jan. 23-30 by a Soviet team’s visit to the United States.
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