Russia Foreign Relations Ukraine

After four months of political sparring, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met here Wednesday to resolve the future of the Soviet Union's powerful Black Sea Fleet, an issue that has embittered relations between the two former Soviet republics and consequently jeopardized the whole Commonwealth of Independent States. Air Marshal Yevgeny I.

The vanishing Soviet Union was wrenched by conflicting pressures Friday as another republic, oil-rich Azerbaijan, declared its independence, while two others, Russia and Kazakhstan, agreed on the urgent need to join forces to avert catastrophe.

On the eve of a key summit meeting of leaders from 11 old Soviet republics, Ukraine stressed Friday that it will not permit the emerging Commonwealth of Independent States to become a reincarnation of the crumbling Soviet Union. In a statement heralding discord that may plague today's talks in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, Ukrainian lawmakers voiced resounding opposition to "the transformation of the commonwealth . . . into a state creation with its own organs of government and administration."

President Boris N. Yeltsin swept away a major obstacle to strategic disarmament, announcing Friday that Russia has agreed to place Ukraine under the protection of its atomic umbrella. "Russia guarantees it will maintain and safeguard Ukraine's integrity and protect its borders from a possible nuclear attack," Yeltsin said.

A new world has opened up for Ukraine. Overshadowed for centuries by neighboring Russia, Europe's wallflower is suddenly one of its most popular consorts. U.S. senators, World Bank officials and even Iranian oil merchants have to wait their turn to woo this newly discovered partner, with her dowry of 52 million people and rich industrial and agricultural resources.

With one hand on a 16th-Century Bible and the other on Ukraine's 1991 Declaration of Independence, Leonid Kuchma was sworn in Tuesday as this nation's second president. It was the first peaceful transfer of executive power in Ukraine's turbulent modern history. But even as he took over from outgoing rival Leonid Kravchuk, Kuchma called for "essential changes in Ukraine's economic and political course" to avert economic disaster.

The Commonwealth of Independent States' four nuclear powers emerged empty-handed Saturday from eight hours of talks on rescuing the landmark START accord with the United States cutting strategic nuclear arsenals. Rivalry between Russia and Ukraine torpedoed the Moscow negotiations, foreign ministers from the two countries said after the talks. They and their Kazakh and Belarussian counterparts were unable even to agree on a joint statement.

Russia and Ukraine, trying once again to resolve their most persistent and explosive dispute, agreed Monday to share control of the Black Sea Fleet until the end of 1995. The agreement between Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid M. Kravchuk, reached at a Crimean resort near Yalta, promised to ease the lingering tension between the two heavyweights of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Running the risk of provoking Ukraine to new heights of fury, Russia's Parliament on Thursday ruled invalid the 1954 transfer of the balmy Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine. In a move sure to bring relations between the two superpowers of the Commonwealth of Independent States even closer to the boiling point, the Russian Parliament declared that Soviet leader Nikita S. Khrushchev's "gift" of the Crimea to Ukraine 38 years ago "lacked legal force."

Ending one of history's oldest fraternal feuds, Russia and Ukraine signed away a millennium of rivalry and resentment Saturday with a friendship treaty destined to shape a new era of relations between Europe's biggest states. With his signature on the accord pledging respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin gave up Moscow's long-running claims on Crimea.