BY THOMAS J. HAMILTON; SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMESDEC. 1, 1964  UNITED NATIONS, N. Y. Nov. 30—The Soviet Union re­fused today to agree to a pro­posal by the Secretary General, U Thant, under which the Gen­eral Assembly would postpone a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over unpaid Soviet assessments.  Mr. Thant was asked whether the opening of the Assembly would be postponed or whether it would meet for only a few minutes, then recess to permit further negotiations. The Secre­tary General replied that “any­thing is possible.”  A statement issued by the Soviet delegation said it be­lieved that “the General Assem­bly should start and continue its work in accordance with nor­mal procedure and that all im­portant matters on its agenda should be deliberated in the usual manner.”  Adlai E. Stevenson, the Unit­ed States representative, ,told Latin‐American delegates to­inight that he expected to have a talk with Andrei A. Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister, before the Assembly begins its 1964 session tomor­row at 3 P.M.  Mr. Stevenson indicated that Mr. Gromyko's talk late this afternoon with Mr. Thant had given some ground for encour­agement. The United States representative said that if the talk with Mr. Gromyko did not produce results it might be nec­essary to postpone the open­ing of the Assembly for 24 hours.  Such a decision could be made by Mr. Thant or by the  Other sources said that in his talks with Mr. Thant and with Secretary of State Dean Rusk, with whom he had lunch, Mr. Gromyko had indicated that the Soviet Union might agree with­out a vote to the election of Alex Quaison‐Sackey of Ghana, sole candidate for President of the Assembly.  It was reported that the So­viet minister was willing to dis­cuss the part of Mr. Thant's proposal that would eliminate any votes before the Christmas recess, but that the United States wanted the entire Thant plan approved. This provides that the Assembly would not reconvene after Christmas until Feb. 10 or 15 to allow time for an Assembly committee to try to settle the arrears ques­tion and the financing of peace­keeping operations.  Because the Soviet Union is in arrears $52.6 billion on Unit­ed Nations peace‐keeping oper­ations, it faces loss of its As­sembly vote under Article 19 of the Charter. Mr. Thant pro­posed that no votes be taken for the time being and that Assembly business be carried on on the basis of “no objec­tions” as issues were to be de­cided.  Some delegates commented gloomily tonight that it would be impossible to avoid a show­down tomorrow on the applica­tion of Article 19. Some even predicted that, regardless of how a showdown turned out, the United Nations would be crippled and might go out of existence.  Most, however, were confident that if no formal postponement could be arranged it would still be possible to arrange a “mora­torium” of several days or weeks on enforcement of Arti­cle 19.  The delegates predicted that some neutralist delegate, or perhaps Mr. Thant himself, would propose the moratorium, during which no votes would be taken. Since Alex Quaison­Sackey is the sole candidate for Assembly President, he can be elected “by acclamation,” fol­lowing a precedent.  The moratorium could be filled with speeches by heads of delegations in the Assembly's general debate, during which no resolutions are considered.  Although the United States delegation declined to comment, several other Western delegates said they were opposed to such an informal postponement and would prefer to have the show­down tomorrow if the Soviet Union definitely rejected Mr. Thant's plan.  These delegates reasoned that the United States, Britain and other members backing the en­forcement of Article 19 would lose strength as a result of a moratorium.  It is generally believed that Moscow has one immediate ob­jective. That is, to prevent a decision on Article 19 on the opening day of the Assembly, as specifically demanded by the United States in a memorandum last October.  Delegates who believe a con­frontation can still be avoided expressed belief that Mr. Gromyko's refusal to accept Mr. Thant's plan was intended for bargaining purposes and that the Soviet minister might be content with a concession from the United States on disarm­ament or some other issue.  Mr. Gromyko said, after his talk with Mr. Rusk, that they had also discussed disarma­ment, but a United States spokesman was unable to pro­vide any information on this.  The belief that the Soviet Union is still willing to nego­tiate on the Article 19 issue was strengthened by Mr. Gromyko's call on Mr. Thant after his luncheon with Mr. Rusk, and also by his state­ment that he expected to see the Secretary of State again in three or four days.  Mr. Rusk, who called on the Secretary General this morning, returned to Washington tonight and was not scheduled to return until Wednesday.  Whatever the Soviet Union's intentions, its representatives were careful today to avoid identifying Mr. Thant as the author of the plan.  A statement issued by the Soviet delegation attributed to “the American press” reports on plans to postpone “impor­tant matters” on the Assembly agenda for a long period or in­definitely. It added that “the Soviet delegation deems it nec­essary to state that it cate­gorically opposes such views.”  Mr. Thant nad suggested that during December the Assembly confine itself to three actions that it is required by the Char­ter to take during 1964. These are to elect the Assembly Presi­dent; approve at least an in­terim budget for 1965 and fill three seats on the Security Council and six on the Eco­nomic and Social Council. The seats become vacant Jan. 1.  This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com
USSR rejects deferring Assembly showdown on vote deprivation for arrears by action without vote, UN mission statement; possibility of postponing Assembly opening raised; Stevenson tells Latin-Amer reprs he sets talks with Gromyko; encouraged by Gromyko-Thant talk; Gromyko has luncheon conf with Rusk; illus; reptd willing to agree without vote to Quaison-Sackey election as Assembly Pres; Rusk sees Thant; returns to Washington