MOSCOW, Sept. 28—Premier Aleksei N. Kosygin and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India today urged that President Agha Mohammoud Yahya Khan of Pakistan permit the return to East Pakistan of several million refugees who have fled to India.

“We address a call to President Yahya Khan to take the most effective steps for the liquidation of tension that has emerged,” Mr. Kosygin said in an address at a state luncheon for Mrs. Gandhi, who arrived here yesterday.

“To ease the situation it is necessary, above all, to offer an opportunity to the refugees of returning home, to give them a full guarantee on the part of the Pakistani authorities that the refugees will not be persecuted and will have an opportunity to live and work calmly in East Pakistan,” the Soviet Premier said.

Although Soviet officials have Sided with India's position that conditions should be created for the safe return of the refugees, this was the first time that a senior, Soviet leader had made a strong, direct appeal. Mr. Kosygin's remarks constituted the strongest Soviet endorsement thus far of the Indian view.

Urges ‘Political Settlement’

The return of the refugees and “an early political settlement” safeguarding the legitimate interests of East Pakistanis, Mr. Kosygin declared, is necessary to prevent further aggravation of tensions between India and Pakistan and there by avoid the danger of armed conflict.

After a delay in meetings, scheduled to begin last night, Mrs. Gandhi began her talks with the Soviet leaders today. Informed sources said that the main topics were the Pakistani crisis and the recently signed Soviet‐Indian treaty of friend ship. Under that accord, the two sides agreed today to set up a joint economic commission.

Tass, the official press agency, reported that all the key Soviet leaders—Leonid I. Brezhnev, the party leader, President Nikolai V. Podgorny, and Mr. Kosygin—took part in the talks both this morning and this afternoon.

Schedule Is Delayed

They were scheduled to begin last night to be followed by a formal state dinner but, at Soviet request, yesterday's schedule was put off until to day. East European sources reported that virtually all members of the Communist party Politburo met with Mr. Breznev at the airport on his return from East Europe, two hours after Mrs. Gandhi arrived. Informants said today their cars were not seen leaving Vnukovo Airport until 7:15 P.M., nearly three hours after Mr. Brezhnev's arrival.

Topics of these discussions have not been revealed.

In their luncheon speeches today, both Mr. Kosygin and Mrs. Gandhi hailed the friend ship treaty of Aug. 9

Immediately after the signing of the treaty, some Indian officials were interpreting it as a virtual defense treaty with the Soviet Union against Pakistan, with whom tensions were rising sharply. The actual provisions of the treaty called for consultations in the event of a threat of attack, but there is no binding defense commitment.

As if to assuage the United States and possible Pakistan as well, Mr. Kosygin emphasized that the treaty “is not spearheaded against any states, and that friendly Soviet‐Indian relations will not be further strengthened through the worsening of relations with other countries.”

Puts Refugee Total at 9 Million

In her speech, Mrs. Gandhi focussed largely on the Pakistani refugee problem, an issue on which she reportedly came to Moscow to seek Soviet sup port. Mr. Kosygin's public appeal was seen as a first step by the Kremlin in her behalf; and she thanked the Soviet Premier for it.

“More than nine million East Bengalis have come into our country,” Mrs. Gandhi asserted. “Do they not have the right to live and work in their own homeland? We cannot absorb them. We have problems enough of our own and we certainly do not need to add to our vast population.”

“This is not an Indo‐Pakistani dispute,” she went on. “The problem is an international one. But the weight of it has fallen on India, stretching our re sources, financial and other wise, to the limit. The international response has fallen short of the scale which a grim tragedy of this magnitude demands.”

More than once she referred to the crisis in East Pakistan as a “threat to peace” in Asia, asserting that the world must create conditions so that “these refugees, irrespective of their religion, can return without fear.”

The refugees fled from East Pakistan when the Pakistan army, comprising principally West Pakistanis, moved to crush the Bengali separatist movement.