Dealing for Daniloff

By John S. DeMott

Was it Eric Ambler, or perhaps Helen MacInnes? No matter: either mystery writer could have written the script for last week's intense negotiations to free U.S. News & World Report Correspondent Nicholas Daniloff, accused by the Soviets of being an American spy. There were plot twists: unscheduled diplomatic meetings and a nighttime passage through a delivery entrance at the U.S. mission to the U.N. There was George Shultz in the Soviet mission and Eduard Shevardnadze at the U.S. headquarters. There was maddeningly incomplete information. From Shultz: "It's under discussion. It isn't settled yet." From Shevardnadze: "Yes, yes, yes. It is a possibility." From a Soviet spokesman in Moscow, there was even a triple negative: "We do not see progress, but we do not believe such questions cannot be solved."

With both the U.S. Secretary of State and the Soviet Foreign Minister at U.N. sessions in New York City, the Daniloff discussions grew urgent against the informal deadline of Shevardnadze's scheduled departure for Ottawa on Tuesday of this week. "If we miss (that date), both sides would be the worse," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov. "We don't want that." But the two sides appeared to be unwilling to yield on critical points. "Obviously we desire a settlement as soon as possible," said Shultz, "if it can be settled on the right basis." For the U.S. that means no swap of Daniloff for the accused Soviet Spy Gennadi Zakharov. For the Soviets that means the U.S. must "reconsider" its order expelling 25 members of the Soviets' overgrown U.N. mission staff. In this, Shevardnadze said late Friday, "the U.S. has created an artificial obstacle."

But Shultz nevertheless noted that he and Shevardnadze have a "good personal capacity" for constructive negotiation, and the two met twice in New York on Tuesday. In the office of the president of the U.N. Security Council, Shultz listened for 40 minutes to ideas on how the case could be resolved. That night the Secretary of State called at the Soviet mission to spell out his reply. Then, on Thursday night, Shultz slipped out of his U.N. Plaza Hotel suite for more talks at the U.S. mission. Both sides, Shultz said, were making a "genuine effort to get beyond" the Daniloff affair. In a broader context, the U.S. and the Soviets took care to avoid inflaming the crisis. < The Justice Department postponed a court hearing to set a trial date for Zakharov, and the White House refrained from carrying out its announced intention to publish a list of the 25 Soviets it had ordered expelled. In turn, Soviet Spokesman Gerasimov described the Daniloff affair and U.N. expulsion order as "separate cases," leaving room for separate settlements.

The elements of a Daniloff deal seem apparent: the U.S. wants the Soviets to agree to let the American go home without a trial, and at a later date Zakharov would be exchanged for an as yet undetermined number of dissidents. But in return the Soviets want reconsideration of the U.N. expulsions. Two weeks ago the U.S. ordered the 25 staff members out by Oct. 1, but so far the Soviets say only six or seven have actually departed. The Soviets also maintain that there are fewer than 200 staffers now registered at their mission, well below the figure of 218 claimed by the U.S. Yet on this issue, both sides seemed to leave plenty of room for maneuvering. The Soviets were not insisting that the U.S. actually rescind the expulsion order, only that the Americans make some gesture of reconciliation. "It is a question of prestige," said a Soviet official.

Meanwhile, Daniloff continued his daily routine of jogging five miles along the Moscow River embankment. The strain of detention, though in the comfortable surroundings of the U.S. embassy, where he has been staying since his release from Lefortovo Prison more than two weeks ago, has taken its toll: a doctor at the embassy is worried about the correspondent's continued high blood pressure. Despite the hopes for a settlement, Ronald Reagan has stood firm in insisting that Daniloff is an "innocent hostage who should be released." As long as he remained in the Soviet Union, a summit would be held hostage as well.

With reporting by Johanna McGeary with Shultz and Nancy Traver/Moscow