Sadat Says Egyptian-soviet Relations Are Eroding

President Anwar Sadat told the leaders of Egypt’s only political party before he left for Moscow that they should not expect “miracles” because “Soviet leaders do only what they think is good for them,” it was learned here today from highly reliable Cairo sources. Sadat was said to have made those remarks in the course of a three-and-a-half hour speech to the Council of the Arab Socialist Union in which he admitted that Egypt’s relations with the Soviet Union were not as good as they used to be. “You might as well know it. This will explain to you why I am so patient with the United States,” Sadat reportedly said, adding, “As our former English masters used to say, you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When I am back from Moscow we shall know more but do not expect me to perform miracles.”

In Moscow, Sadat took a harder line yesterday than his Soviet hosts on the Middle East. He insisted that “force, only force, is the method of pressure on Israel and of liquidating the aggression against our land. “President Nikolai V. Podgorny of the Soviet Union, speaking at a luncheon in honor of the visiting Egyptian leader, pledged “vigorous efforts” by the USSR to achieve a political settlement of the Mideast conflict. But he warned at the same time that Moscow would continue to strengthen Arab military forces “as long as Israel’s aggression against the Arab states continues, as long as its aftermaths are not liquidated.”

Sadat is believed to be seeking to persuade Moscow to supply Egypt with additional arms, preferably offensive weapons that could give credence to Egypt’s warning of renewed warfare should diplomatic efforts to achieve peace fail. Neither he nor his hosts directly mentioned efforts for an interim accord on the Suez Canal. But Sadat defended recent Egyptian moves which have not been regarded favorably by the Kremlin. notably Egypt’s federation with Libya and Syria and his own purge of pro-Soviet elements in Cairo.