MOSCOW -- Sen. Gary Hart, on a private visit to the Soviet Union, met today with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for a 3 -hour discussion focusing on arms control and human rights, a spokesman for the senator said.
Hart, a retiring Democratic senator from Colorado, is an unannounced contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in l988. He arrived in Moscow Sunday at the invitation of the Supreme Soviet, the country's parliament, and is to depart for Vienna Thursday.
A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Hart's visit was private and not arranged by the embassy.
'The meeting went twice as long as we expected. There was a lengthy discussion on arms control and human rights and international issues,' Hart spokesman Doug Wilson said. He termed the Kremlin meeting 'serious.'
'It was held in a positive atmosphere. There was an unusual amount of give and take,' Wilson said.
Hart brought up the case of dissident Anatoly Marchenko, 48, who died last week in a Soviet prison after a long hunger strike. He also brought up several other cases of Soviet human rights abuses, Wilson said, but the spokesman declined to provide further details.
'Marchenko was mentioned but his case was certainly not the focal point of the dicussion. Human rights is an issue that we will continue to pursue,' Wilson said.
Hart told reporters his meeting with the Soviet leader showed 'There is a basis for continued negotiations' between the superpowers.
Also attending the session was Hart's 22-year-old daughter, Andrea, who received a personal invitation from Gorbachev to travel anywhere in the Soviet Union for several months next year.
The government news agency Tass initially provided no details, but said later Hart and Gorbachev discussed the causes of international tension, the arms race and regional conflicts 'in an informal and well-wishing atmosphere.'
'On the senator's request, Mikhail Gorbachev told him what had really happened in Reykjavik, gave his assessment of the reaction to its results in NATO countries and confirmed the invariable Soviet position: talks with any administration on problems of ending the arms race have a future only if there is further advance from Reykjavik,' Tass said.
The news agency added the rejection of the Oct. 11-12 superpower summit in Iceland, where Gorbachev and President Reagan came closer than everto agreeing to limit nuclear arms, means rejection of disarmament.
Anatoly Dobrynin, former Soviet ambassador to Washington and secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, also was present.
Wilson said that Hart was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze.
