WaybackWire

MOSCOW, Saturday.—Mr Khrushchev today offered to take out of Cuba the weapons the United States calls offensive if the United States takes its own rockets out of Turkey.

The message, to President Kennedy and U Thant, was broadcast by Moscow Radio. “We are willing to remove from Cuba the means which you regard as offensive,” the Soviet Premier said. “You have placed destructive missile weapons, which you call offensive, in Turkey, literally next to us.”

It was unfair, he said, to expect Russia to withdraw from Cuba while American rockets in Turkey are pointed at the Soviet Union.

Under his terms, the Soviet Government would pledge in the Security Council to respect the borders and sovereignty of Turkey, and the United States would make a similar statement on Cuba. Persons entrusted by the Council would inspect on the spot, with the consent of Havana and Ankara, within two or three weeks and not longer than a month.

The weapons in Cuba, he said, are in the hands of Soviet officers, so any accidental use of them against the United States is excluded.

WASHINGTON, Saturday.—The White House today rejected any bargain that brings in Turkey: work on the Cuban bases must stop and the weapons be made inoperable before any proposal is considered.

A White House statement said Moscow had made several inconsistent and conflicting proposals within 24 hours; the latest involves the security of nations outside the Western Hemisphere, though the Western Hemisphere alone is under threat. “The first imperative must be to deal with this immediate threat, under which no sensible negotiation can proceed.”

Tonight the White House released the President’s letter to Mr Khrushchev, which called the Friday-night proposals “generally acceptable.” The Russians would remove the weapons under United Nations observation and halt further deliveries; the United States would lift the quarantine and give assurances against an invasion of Cuba.

“But the first ingredient, let me emphasize, is the cessation of work on missile sites in Cuba and measures to render such weapons inoperable, under effective international guarantees,” Mr Kennedy wrote. A settlement could be announced within a couple of days, he said; tying Cuba to wider European and world security would risk widening the crisis.

Richard M. Nixon, the former Vice President, backed the President in a televised speech tonight and urged rejection of the Turkey proposal. “To give up bases in Turkey would mean destroying the anchor of NATO,” he said.

NEW DELHI, Saturday.—A 10,000-man Chinese force is reported driving down a jeep trail from Towang towards the plains of Assam, with Indian troops outnumbered and outgunned after a week of heavy fighting.

Mr Nehru told members of his Congress party that India is arranging to match the Communists’ firepower with arms from abroad. In London, Britain said it will send India a quantity of small arms as soon as possible, in answer to an Indian request.

In a telegram to Mr Khrushchev, described by the Indian Embassy in Moscow, Mr Nehru said India is prepared for “honorable negotiations” on a border settlement, but only if the Chinese withdraw behind the line of 8 September, from which their attack was launched, not merely from their present line as they propose.

Mr Nehru also told Congress members of Parliament that India had written to every country except Portugal and South Africa, explaining the international crime that the Chinese invasion represents. India and China have not broken off diplomatic relations.

UNITED NATIONS, New York, Saturday.—Dr Fidel Castro tonight invited U Thant to Cuba for “direct discussions,” in reply to an appeal the Acting Secretary-General sent him on Friday. Both messages were made public tonight.

The Cuban Prime Minister offered to stop construction of major military facilities in Cuba if the United States lifts its blockade, the Associated Press reported. He made no mention of Mr Khrushchev’s proposal on Turkey.

A United Nations spokesman said U Thant would decide on the invitation soon, but not tonight. Cuban sources said the Foreign Minister, Dr Raul Roa, would arrive in New York, probably on Sunday, to talk with him.