WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 —Senior Administration officials said today that the Soviet Union appeared to be reinforcing its naval strength in the Indian Ocean. They said that they believed that the move was connected with the Indian‐Pakistani war.

Qualified sources said that a Soviet guided‐missile warship recently left the Vladivostok naval base and was heading south. Last week, the sources said, a Soviet guided‐missile destroyer was added to the Indian Ocean force.

The Soviet Union is said to have 12 to 15 ships—some of them weather and hydrographic survey vessels—and 10 nuclear-powered submarines in the Indian Ocean. It has doubled its strength there in the last three years, naval experts say.

The United States has two destroyers there and a converted seaplane tender based at Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

Nixon Orders Moves

Meanwhile, President Nixon ordered a series of moves to provide what Administration sources termed “political support” for Pakistan. One move was a return to the United Nations Security Council to seek a cease‐fire. Another was to direct U. S. naval forces toward the Bay of Bengal.

Reports here indicate that the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan is disorganized and retreating as Indian troops, assisted by Bengali guerrillas, close in on Dacca, the provincial capital. On the Indian‐West Pakistani border, these reports say, the fighting is stalemated.

President Nixon, who is believed to have a personal affinity for the Pakistani cause, has been following the situation in the last two days at his Camp David retreat in the Maryland hills, Ronald L. Ziegler, the White House spokesman, said.

Mr. Ziegler said that the President returned by helicopter early this morning and conferred on the Indian‐Pakistani developments with Henry A. Kissinger, his national security assistant, before flying to the Azores for talks with President Pompidou of France and Premier Marcel Caetano of Portugal.

Reports that Pakistan had recently asked the United States for renewed shipments of military equipment and that the United States was considering the request were denied by a Pakistani spokesman here. State and Defense Department officials insisted that they knew nothing about a request. The report was reiterated in the Senate yesterday by Senator Frank Church, Democrat of Idaho.

There were indications that President Nixon and Mr. Kissinger had been contemplating permitting “third‐country transfers” of United States arms to help Pakistan.

Specific Approval Needed

Pakistan is known to have asked in recent days for immediate arms help — put not for troops—from friendly countries, including Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Libya. The first four have extensive inventories of United States‐furnished weapons.

Normally, United States arms provided to foreign countries may not be transferred to third countries without specific United States agreement. Congressional sources here say that such transfers may be authorized by the President without notifying Congress.

State and Defense Department spokesmen declined to comment on the possibility of such arms transfers to Pakistan. They said that all policy decisions were being made by the Washington Special Action Group, headed by Mr. Kissinger and made up of senior representatives of the State and Defense Departments, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Joseph J. Sisco, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs—who is sometimes invited to participate in the group's meetings on India and Pakistan — canceled an appearance today on the Columbia Broadcasting System's television program, “Face the Nation.” C.B.S. said that Mr. Sisco had declined to appear because of the “delicacy” of the Indian‐Pakistani situation.