Soviets Back Bush Idea of Unarmed Air Surveillance

OTTAWA — The Soviet Union said today it generally backed President Bush’s proposal to open East-West skies to unarmed surveillance, but the issue of the number of flights allowed emerged as a potential stumbling block for Moscow.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, attending a meeting of the 23 foreign ministers of the two alliances, warned that Open Skies would work only if all countries are allowed an equal amount of flights over each other’s territory and said information gathered from the flights should be shared.

NATO has proposed a quota system under which the number of flights would be based on the size of each country. Under that system, two to three flights a week would be allowed over the Soviet Union and only about one a week over the United States.