"He quite often talked about the important role his Russian heritage played in his upbringing and his desire to go back to the Soviet Union," said Ned A. Cline, managing editor at the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record.

Morton M. Kondracke, Washington bureau chief for Newsweek, described Daniloff as "having a balanced, realistic and pragmatic knowledge of the Soviets" and speculated that Daniloff's abduction was carefully planned in Moscow at the highest levels.

"Pinching Nick served to give the Russians leverage in the release of Zakharov while pinching Western journalists as well," Kondracke said yesterday. Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev fears that Western journalists are ruining his reformer image by reporting news contrary to party line, he added.

But it may be too late for Gorbachev to prevent his glossy image from becoming tarnished.

"The abduction of an innocent American journalist tends to project Gorbachev as being more similar to his bloated predecessors than to the reformist image to which he aspires." said Cline.

Daniloff's colleagues also speculated that his arrest could have negative repercussions in U.S.-Soviet relations, although they were unable to predict what long-term ramifications his arrest might have.

"If he's not sprung pretty fast, it could holdup the summit," said Kondracke.

Missed Opportunities

On the eve of his departure for Moscow,Daniloff seemed pessimistic in his appraisal ofdetente. "I prefer to avoid comment here on thestate of the world, other than to say that inSoviet-American relations, as in the Middle East,I am appalled by the number of missedopportunities," he wrote in his Twenty-fifthreport.

"Since I do not expect to attend theTwenty-fifth Reunion, I send good wishes to all.