Baker Opens Fact-Finding Soviet Visit : Diplomacy: He hopes to find out who is running the disintegrating superpower--and what its new role will be.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III arrived in the Soviet Union on Tuesday hoping to find out who is running the country--and acknowledging that the disintegrating superpower may no longer be able to act as a global partner with the United States in building a “new world order.”

Baker, sounding frankly puzzled about the course of events in the Soviet Union, told reporters on his Air Force jet that he still does not know what kind of federation the country’s remaining 12 republics--minus the Baltics--will choose. He said he hopes to find out in meetings with more than 20 Soviet and republic officials.

The secretary said: “There are a number of new arrangements being sorted out. . . . So we’ll be seeing a much wider range of officials than we normally have. This will, I think, provide us with a pretty good sense of the different kind of (central Soviet government) that has developed.

“Of course, we’re all aware of the fact that ultimately, many--if not most--republics might opt for independence,” he added.

Asked whether the Soviet Union could still act as “a partner” to the United States in global diplomatic efforts, Baker said that question remains open. “Much will depend on the extent to which the center has changed,” he said.

During the last two years, Baker and President Bush have sought to build what they called a “partnership” with the Soviet Union on such initiatives as expelling Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait and enticing Arab states into a peace conference with Israel.

But as the Soviet Union loosens into an ill-defined federation, it has lost much of its ability to play the role of a global superpower--and thus its usefulness as a major diplomatic partner of the United States.

Baker’s arrival marked his 10th visit to the Soviet Union in three years but his first since last month’s abortive coup attempt against President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. With three of the 15 former Soviet republics now independent countries and eight others having declared their independence, this is Baker’s first visit to a largely new country.

During his five-day visit, Baker is scheduled to meet not only with Gorbachev and his new foreign minister, Boris N. Pankin, but also with Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Part of his mandate, officials said, is to assure Yeltsin, who won acclaim and power by leading the resistance to the abortive coup, that Bush wants to work closely with him despite the barely private warnings of some White House aides that he is unreliable.

“That was a mistake,” a senior U.S. official accompanying Baker said of the White House jibes about Yeltsin, “and it’s been corrected.”

In recent weeks, some Bush aides--reportedly including his national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft--have told reporters anonymously that they considered Yeltsin a “demagogue.”

Those reports drew public criticism from Yeltsin’s supporters in Congress and touched off private complaints from State Department officials.

“It probably annoyed Yeltsin, and it didn’t help Gorbachev any either,” the senior official said.

Baker said he has been encouraged by recent statements by both the central Soviet government and the leaders of Russia and the other republics that they hope to pursue stronger ties with the United States and the West.

“Based on what we have been told by them so far, they still would like to work cooperatively with us on a number of foreign policy issues,” he said. “But, obviously, we will also be working with the republic foreign ministers and with republic leaders.”

One immediate problem posed by the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he noted, is the question of who will negotiate with the United States on future treaties to reduce the old superpowers’ remaining nuclear arsenals.

“How will we arrange those?” he asked. “How will they be carved out?”

Baker said he also planned to advise Soviet and republic leaders on ways to speed up political and economic reforms.