No Pressure by Russia On Hanoi, Sources Say

LONDON--Western diplomats Thursday said there is no evidence to suggest that China and Moscow are exerting any effective pressures on Hanoi to negotiate a settlement in Vietnam, despite the Asian missions of U. S. and Soviet officials last month.

Spokesmen for the Soviet and Chinese embassies here declined formal comment on a report that their governments have been pressing North Vietnamese leaders to end the war soon.

Western diplomats with missions in Moscow, Peking and Hanoi discounted the report, which sent prices skyrocketing on the New York Stock Exchange. Prices surged ahead 13.55 points in active trading before noon but later receded, when the report received no confirmation.

A Russian official in Britain said privately that any authoritative statement relating to Soviet policy on Vietnam would not be made in London but in Moscow.

"No member of the Chinese mission could conceivably discuss Peking's dealings with Hanoi in this way," said a source close to the Chinese embassy.

Ever since Soviet President Nikolai V. Podgorny visited Hanoi and U. S. presidential adviser Henry A. Kissinger traveled to Peking in June, Western diplomats have speculated that Russia and China will urge North Vietnam to make a peace settlement.

But they doubt the two competing Communist nations would expose themselves to charges of betraying North Vietnam by appearing to turn on Hanoi so close to the peace talks, set for next week. The diplomats also noted there is no sign China and the Soviet Union have stopped supplying Hanoi with arms and other military aid--the one sector where Moscow and Peking could reinforce any advice urging a settlement. Informants said reports of China sending new contingents of engineers and road-menders into North Vietnam to repair bomb damage are inconsistent with the idea that Peking is urging Hanoi to come to a quick settlement.