Nitze says Soviet stance gives leeway in talks

US arms negotiator Paul Nitze said Moscow's latest policy statement had given him more leeway in the Geneva talks on medium-range missiles. Earlier this month Soviet leader Yuri Andropov proposed to count warheads, not just missiles, in the negotiations - something Mr. Nitze welcomed. But, Nitze added the Soviet Union was still making impossible demands. The Soviets have insisted that French and British nuclear missiles be counted in the total NATO arsenal. A leading Soviet commentator in the newspaper Izvestia clarified the Soviet view of the numbers, saying the French and British had deployed a total 434 warheads.

A day earlier, however, Soviet negotiator Yuli Kvitsinsky accused the United States of blocking the negotiations, which begin again on Tuesday.