An Opening to London

Word that the superpowers would hold talks early next year in Geneva was the second sign that the Kremlin is looking for a diplomatic opening to the West. The first was that Mikhail Gorbachev, 53, the fast-rising heir apparent to President Konstantin Chernenko, will lead a Soviet delegation to Britain in mid-December. Gorbachev's trip will mark the first visit of a top-ranking Soviet leader to Britain in eight years. For Gorbachev, who has already seen more of the West than all but a few Politburo members, the visit might be the dress rehearsal for a later trip to the U.S.

Gorbachev accepted Britain's invitation in his capacity as chairman of the foreign affairs commission of the Supreme Soviet, the U.S.S.R.'s largely ceremonial parliament. Last year he led another parliamentary delegation on a two-week tour of Canada, impressing his hosts with a lively intelligence and the ability to listen carefully. British diplomats were delighted with his latest travel plans. "If he really is the Kremlin's No. 2 man, we want to see as much of him as possible," explained a British diplomat. "And we want him to see as much of us as possible."

Gorbachev is likely to do just that, given the limitations of a one-week stay. Besides attending parliamentary functions, he will presumably want to inspect some farms and agricultural-equipment factories; agriculture is one of his responsibilities in the Kremlin. Most important, he will be received at 10 Downing Street, possibly more than once. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who has been hinting publicly for 14 months that she would welcome talks with the Soviet leadership, noted that Gorbachev's visit will be followed by one from Gromyko early in 1985. Said Thatcher: "We shall hope during these visits to take forward the search for ways to reduce the burden of armaments." Acting in concert with Washington, the British may use their time with Gorbachev to sound out the opening Soviet position in Geneva and to hint at "Washington's. "The Russians know perfectly well that anything they say to us will go straight back to Washington," said a British diplomat in London. "We will be acting as a two-way conduit."

The unexpected acceptance of London's invitation by Gorbachev recalled another Soviet foreign policy initiative staged on British soil. In 1956, during the cold war, Nikita Khrushchev and Premier Nikolai Bulganin came calling, opening a campaign of personal diplomacy in the West that culminated in Khrushchev's 1959 tour of the U.S. That was also a period of progress in arms-control negotiations between the U.S. and Soviet Union, though no major agreement emerged until the limited test-ban treaty of 1963.

Gorbachev was conspicuous by his absence from a Nov. 15 meeting of the ruling Politburo. A Soviet journalist joked that Gorbachev was busy taking an intensive tea-sipping course in case the Queen Mother invited him over. "Whether or not to use the strainer, how to put the napkin on your knee, and all that," the journalist mused. More serious Soviet officials went out of their way to assure British officials that Gorbachev was merely on vacation and that his British travel plans remain unchanged. Their explanation was plausible: Gorbachev filled in for Chernenko during the President's extended summer vacation and remained at his desk throughout the fall. As for Gorbachev's plans beyond December, nothing is firm. But Western diplomats have lately been speculating about a possible Gorbachev trip to the U.S. in 1985.