Gorbachev Lays Wreath at Grave of Tito : He Later Emerges Smiling From Talks With Yugoslav Leaders

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia —  Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev visited the grave of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito on Tuesday and then held longer-than-expected talks with current Communist Party leader Bosko Krunic.

Gorbachev, the first Kremlin leader to pay an official visit to Yugoslavia in 12 years, laid a wreath at the tomb of Tito, who was branded a traitor to communism by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Later, Gorbachev emerged waving and smiling from his talks with Krunic and Yugoslav party Executive Secretary Marko Lolic, who said the Soviet leader had extended the meeting to an unplanned two hours.

The talks were “frank, lively and direct,” covering interparty relations, internal developments in each country and left-wing movements abroad, Lolic told reporters.

Gorbachev himself told journalists later that his talks are going well.

“We need to continue cooperating in the peace struggle and renewing international relations,” he said.

Vadim A. Medvedev, a Soviet Central Committee secretary, said Gorbachev and Krunic briefed each other on party conference preparations--Moscow’s in June and Yugoslavia’s in May.

“Comrade Gorbachev spoke in detail about preparations for the 19th party conference and which problems we are trying to identify for discussion at the conference,” he said.

“Major decisions will be taken to improve the system, including the role of soviets (local councils), democratization of the electoral system and a more precise definition of the functions of party and state,” he added.

Aides said the two sides will later adopt a joint declaration on relations between the two states.

Government officials are due to sign a long-term economic and technical cooperation accord extending to the year 2000, as well as agreements on setting up a Yugoslav cultural center in Moscow and on mutual recognition of academic diplomas.

Earlier in the day, Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, visited the Park of Peace to plant a tree, a customary practice for visiting leaders.

To a group of children attending the ceremony, Gorbachev said the park contains trees planted by many leaders of the Nonaligned Movement, of which Tito was a founder.

“You take care of this park,” he said, and carefully shoveled every bit of dirt from a small pile set aside for the planting.

After chatting and joking with the children, the Gorbachevs lined up with them for photographs. He promised the children they would receive copies.

At the Ivo Lola Ribar factory outside Belgrade, Gorbachev and his wife were shown modern machine tools and robots used by auto assembly plants in both East and West.

Commenting on the talks, party Executive Secretary Lolic said there were obvious prospects for boosting relations between the Yugoslav and Soviet parties. Bilateral relations took a dive in 1948 when Stalin branded Tito a traitor and had Yugoslavia expelled from the Cominform group of Communist states.

The damage was mended by Tito and Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1955 and 1956 documents, in which the two countries recognized principles of mutual respect, non-interference and the right to varying political lines according to national conditions.

Today, Gorbachev is to address Parliament before flying to the richest region of the country, Slovenia, and from there on Thursday to the booming Adriatic seaside resort of Dubrovnik for sightseeing and final talks.