The Soviets will not join Intelsat at the present.

A proposed memorandum of understanding that the international satellite consortium and the Soviet Union are discussing contains “no talk about membership,” said Jose Luis Alegrett, deputy director of Intelsat. “We do hope” the agreement will eventually lead to Soviet membership, but that decision is up to the Soviets, Alegrett said. The consortium’s charter permits the Soviets to join at any time. Intelsat, based in Washington, is a nonprofit cooperative of 109 countries that owns and operates the global satellite system used for international communications.