MOSCOW--The Soviet press yesterday reported without elaboration that preparations were under way to deploy nuclear missiles in East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

The Communist Party newspaper Pravda added no commentary of its own in reporting the statements by the Soviet Defense Ministry and the East German and Czech governments Monday night that "preparatory work is being started for depolyment of missile complexes of operation-tactical designation."

Red Star, the newspaper of the Soviet Defense Ministry, also carried no comment on the announcement, simply running the ministry's statement on the front page.

Radio Moscow said the deployment was necessary to maintain the nuclear balance in Europe and to protect the security of Soviet Union and its allies.

"This is being done because of the U.S. preparations to site Pershing 2 and cruise missiles" in western Europe, the noon broadcast said.

The announcement capped months of Warsaw Pact statements about "appropriate responses" to the planned NATO depolyment of 572 U.S. built medium-range missiles in Western Europe. It said the preparatory work was "one of the planned response measures in case the American missiles are sited in Europe."