World Notes SOVIET UNION

Just before Washington and Moscow concluded their historic accord on intermediate-range arms reductions, the talks nearly snagged over a missing photograph. The matter was hardly trivial. The treaty called for the elimination of Soviet SS-20 missiles, but nobody on the U.S. team had ever seen one. Finally, the Soviets produced a grainy Xerox of a photograph of the missile, along with a promise to send the picture itself later. It has yet to materialize. One possible reason for Moscow's reluctance: the SS-20 is identical to the first two stages of the long-range SS-25, which is not covered by the treaty.

Last week, in an apparent effort to defuse the issue, Pravda carried a large black-and-white photo of the SS-20. The accompanying story spoke of an "enormous, dull green cocoon with a blunted half sphere . . . a belly full of fuel, its sleepy snoozing head, where the explosive is concealed." Like earlier photos provided by the Soviets, the Pravda snapshot showed the canister encasing the SS-20, not the missile itself. The article, said a Western diplomat, "is of more literary than military value." And the West is still waiting for that photo.