Forty Russian youths will visit the United States this summer, while a like number of American students will tour the Soviet Union.

The exchange will provide the first opportunity in many years for Russian students to see this country. American students have enjoyed limited access to the Soviet Union, especially in the last two years.

It is one of a series of programs facilitated by recent Washington discussions between Soviet Ambassador Georgi Zarubin and William S. B. Lacey, State Department officer in charge of East-West cultural relations. These discussions have resulted in the lowering of several barriers to cultural exchanges between the United States and the U.S.S.R., but this program is the first to be definitely announced.

Details Still Uncertain

Some details of the visits, including duration and itinerary, must still be developed, but it has been decided that the Americans will sail from Quebec on June 30 and the Russians will arrive in America in the early part of July.

The Council for Student Travel, a New York organization which revealed the plan, is coordinating the trip for four other groups, which will each choose ten students for the program. Three of these groups are the Experiment in International Living, the Lisle Fellowship of Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Ecumenical Volunteer Service of the United Student Christian Council of New York. The fourth group has not been identified.