WASHINGTON--Soviet and American officials are warning that although there has been dramatic progress in the search for an arms control agreement, last-minute problems could endanger the disarmament process.

Despite those notes of caution, one Soviet official said he believed that at last week's visit to Moscow by Secretary of State George Shultz, groundwork was laid for a summit meeting this year between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

"We suggested to Mr. Shultz, in fact, an exact deal that would lead to the meeting of Mr. President with our general secretary, in the autumn or at the end of the year," Viktor Karpov, the chief Soviet arms control official, said on ABC-TV's "This Week With David Brinkley."

Karpov added: "I think that there is a possibility now to reach an agreement, if there is a real willingness to do so without raising any artificial obstacles. We are removing on our part...any obstacles."

On NBC-TV's "Meet the Press," Richard Perle, the assistant defense secretary who oversees Pentagon arms control matters, expressed similar guarded optimism.

"I would think the chances are quite good for a summit...provided we settle the issue of verification, and provided we get a satisfactory solution to the short-range missile problem," Perle said.

The United States is considering a proposal discussed last week by Shultz and Gorbachev under which each country would eliminate their medium range missiles in Europe, while keeping up to 100 of the weapons on their own respective territories. So far, the two sides have not agreed on how each would verify that the other is abiding by the agreement.

Gorbachev also proposed eliminating short-range missiles in Europe, an idea that has raised concerns among some NATO allies and American lawmakers wary of the Soviet conventional force advantage in Europe.

Gen. Bernard Rogers, departing NATO supreme commander, said in a Newsweek magazine interview released Sunday that the Soviet proposal will make Western Europe "safe for conventional war."

Georgi Arbatov, director of the Soviet Union's U.S.A. and Canada Institute, interviewed from Moscow on "Meet the Press," said arms control "looks more possible, but I'm tremendously cautious."