Former Soviet Union: A Dangerous Divide

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Gloom descended as leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States ended their summit meeting in Kiev last week without managing to defuse a situation that threatens the already fragile structure of the nascent organization: the growing rancor between Russia and Ukraine.

Their relations deteriorated two weeks ago when Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk announced that he was halting the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to Russia. Kiev had pledged to hand over all such weapons by July, but so far, only around half of the roughly 2,500 tactical weapons have been shipped. In Moscow, Boris Yeltsin retaliated by creating his own defense ministry, the essential precursor to a separate Russian army. Ukraine then refused to take any part in a unified command structure. A proposal to set up a group of military observers to help resolve ethnic conflicts was rejected by both Ukraine and Azerbaijan.

The summit's failure to resolve any important questions, warned Kravchuk, meant that "the entire existence of the C.I.S. is questionable."