The main opposition party urged Chancellor Helmut Kohl to dismantle some nuclear missiles before the new U.S.-Soviet arms treaty is ratified, as the Kremlin has done. East Germany's state-run news agency ADN reported that Soviet SS-12 missiles in Waren, an East German site northwest of Berlin, were dismantled, put in crates and were ready for transport back to the Soviet Union. The SS-12s are part of the U.S.-Soviet agreement last December to eliminate medium-range and shorter-range missiles within three years. The treaty applies to nuclear missiles with a range of 300 to 3,000 miles. Hermann Scheer, disarmament expert for West Germany's opposition Social Democrats, told reporters that Kohl's government should respond to the Soviet move with the early scrapping of West Germany's 72 Pershing 1A missiles. ``Such a reaction would be equal to developing trust in disarmament which the leadership in East Berlin has been working toward with the Soviets,'' Scheer said, speaking on behalf of the party. East German newspapers praised Soviet plans for early removal of the SS-12 missiles from Waren. ``Soviet missile troops preparing withdrawal from the DDR (East Germany). Troops in Waren dismantle medium-range rockets earlier than expected,'' the Communist party's official newspaper, New Germany, said in banner headlines Wednesday. ADN did not say how many missiles had been dismantled or when they would be returned to the Soviet Union, only that Soviet soldiers ``are making the last preparations to return their SS-12 rockets.'' ``With this step we can make an important contribution toward disarmament even before the treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union is ratified,'' ADN said. The East Berlin-based newspaper Berliner Zeitung said Wednesday: ``Removal of missile troops from the DDR (East Germany) starts earlier than expected.'' President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the superpower treaty in Washington last December. Kohl had announced beforehand that West Germany would scrap its Pershing 1A missiles if a treaty was agreed upon. West Germany owns the Pershing 1A missiles, but the United States controls the nuclear warheads for the rockets. Three U.S. Senate committees are debating the treaty and ratification may come this summer. The Supreme Soviet, the Soviet Union's parliament, is expected to approve the accord. East German leader Erich Honecker said in January that Soviet intermediate-range rockets based in his country could be removed ahead of schedule, but at the time he gave no specific timetable. According to figures released after the treaty was signed, 22 rockets, 12 launchers, nine transport vehicles and seven practice missiles were stationed at the Waren site, which holds the largest numbers of SS-12s in East Germany. There are three other SS-12 rocket sites in the country. The city of Waren is 90 miles northwest of Berlin.
