It’s Make-or-Break Time, Soviet Prime Minister Says

The Soviet Union’s economic disintegration has brought the country to a make-or-break situation, Prime Minister Valentin S. Pavlov told the legislature Tuesday, warning that developments over the summer will decide the nation’s fate.

Pavlov acknowledged that his anti-crisis program, launched five months ago, had so far failed to halt the decline in industrial production; that this year’s grain harvest will be smaller than in 1990; that exports have dropped sharply, and that vital imports cannot be purchased for lack of foreign credits.

“Now is the time when it is possible, within two or three months, either to stabilize production and the market--or finally lose all control. All will depend on the political situation in the country,” he told the Supreme Soviet.

Pavlov blamed his anti-crisis program’s failure to achieve greater results on the widespread strikes, particularly among coal miners, and the “populism” generated by the campaign for the presidency of the Russian Federation, the largest of the Soviet republics.

Even the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania--which have proclaimed their independence--are beginning to see the need to prevent the Soviet economy from collapsing, Pavlov said, and the conclusion of a new Union Treaty should help provide the political stability the country needs.