Nuclear-free zone outlined for Europe by Soviets

The Soviet Union called Thursday for the creation of a zone in Central Europe which would be free of all battlefield nuclear weapons. The official Tass news agency said the zone should be 310 or 370 miles wide, with its center running along the border between NATO countries and the Communist Warsaw Pact. This would include nearly all of East and West Germany.

Tass said the Soviet proposal was in response to a message from the Swedish government asking NATO and the Warsaw Pact members to consider clearing battlefield nuclear weapons from a 186-mile zone in Central Europe.