Soviet envoy to wind up US duty

Veteran Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin will leave Washington this year, diplomatic sources said. The Kremlin feels he will be more useful at home than in dealing with a US administration not seriously interested in doing business with Moscow, the sources added. Mr. Dobrynin, the Kremlin's voice in Washington for 21 years, is said to feel frustrated by the absence of the high-level dialogue he enjoyed with five previous US presidents.

But sources stressed that the impending departure reflected a desire by Soviet leader Yuri Andropov to have Mr. Dobrynin's experienced counsel at the Kremlin rather than a Soviet decision to downgrade ties with Washington or show displeasure over President Reagan's tough policies. In December, Chairman Andropov accorded Mr. Dobrynin the unusual privilege of a two-hour meeting in Moscow. The Kremlin is undergoing a series of high-level personnel changes.

A search is under way in Moscow for someone of stature to succeed Mr. Dobrynin when he leaves later this year, the sources said, adding that other Soviet diplomats in Washington would also be leaving, starting with Mr. Dobrynin's deputy, Alexander Bessmertnykh. He is going home this week.