Gorbachev Denounces 3 Breakaway Leaders : Soviet Union: President calls their efforts to dissolve the country ‘illegal and dangerous.’ Some other republics applaud the Slavic states’ new commonwealth.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev lashed back at the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus on Monday, declaring that they have no right to take it on themselves to dissolve the Soviet Union and denouncing their decision to terminate its laws as “illegal and dangerous.”

“Without a doubt, each republic has the right to leave the union, but the fate of a multinational state cannot be determined by the will of the leaders of three republics,” Gorbachev said in a statement on the Slavic commonwealth, the creation of which was announced Sunday by Slavic leaders. “This question can be decided only through constitutional means with the participation of all sovereign states and taking into account the will of the people.”

He called for a meeting of the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies--which most people thought had voted itself out of existence--to debate the issue of the commonwealth and said he did not rule out a nationwide referendum.

But Ukrainian President Leonid M. Kravchuk declared that he, Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin and Belarussian leader Stanislav Shushkevich are legally entitled to declare that the Soviet Union “is ceasing its existence” and to establish a “Commonwealth of Independent States.”

“The heads of the three independent republics have acted in accordance with the constitutions of our states and within our power,” Kravchuk said at an afternoon press conference in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital.

Kravchuk and Shushkevich were expected in Moscow on Monday. But Yeltsin acted as their representative in meetings with Gorbachev, with one session between the two lasting for almost 90 minutes in the Kremlin.

In that session, Yeltsin and Gorbachev agreed to send the text of the Slavic pact to the legislatures of the republics for consideration, said Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was also present at the talks.

While Gorbachev criticized the Slavic leaders’ decision to pronounce the Soviet Union dead and to forge a commonwealth, leaders of some of the non-Slavic republics applauded the attempt to set up a community of truly independent states. There were seemingly favorable responses to the commonwealth from Armenia, Georgia and even Tadzhikstan, although Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev appeared to oppose it.

Like most other political leaders in the vast country, Gorbachev was caught by surprise by the announcement by the three Slavic leaders, which was made after they emerged from a private two-day meeting in a hunting lodge near the Polish border in Belarus, formerly called Byelorussia. Nazarbayev told reporters that he believes that the Soviet president was also “distressed” by the news.

But Gorbachev struck back, saying in the statement published by the Tass news agency: “To assert that all-union legal norms are terminated is illegal and dangerous. This can only amplify the chaos and anarchy in society.”

Gorbachev, who has been the Soviet leader since 1985 and is the author of the dramatic reform plan that brought democracy to the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War, stressed that he has not given up on his concept of a union of sovereign republics joined together in a democratic confederative state.

His full-scale offensive quickly silenced rumors that Gorbachev would quietly resign and let the leaders of the three Slavic republics have their way. When asked if Gorbachev was ready to resign, his spokesman, Alexander A. Likhotal, said: “No, absolutely, not.”

Nazarbayev agreed that Gorbachev’s days as a leader of the country are not over, saying, “Gorbachev has not yet exhausted his potential and is needed by the nation at this crucial moment.”

But Likhotal made it clear that Gorbachev’s political future now depends on his preventing the creation of the commonwealth. “I don’t think he could become the president of a very liquid structure like this commonwealth,” he said.

Gorbachev harshly criticized the Slavic leaders for presuming that they could make a decision for their republics, which account for 73% of the population and 80% of the territory of the old Soviet Union, without consulting anyone else first. “The speed in which the document appeared is baffling,” Gorbachev said. “It was not discussed either by the citizens or the parliaments of the republics on behalf of which it was signed.”

But as Gorbachev criticized the action of the three Slavic leaders, leaders of some of the non-Slavic republics of the former Soviet Union said they heartily support the commonwealth and will likely be joining it.

“We consider the agreement signed by the three Slavic republics . . . a historic move toward the profound renewal of relations between the former union republics based on the principles of international law,” Levon Ter-Petrosyan, president of the southern republic of Armenia, said in a statement.

He praised the agreement for providing “a reliable system of collective security, equal economic cooperation and full protection of human rights” and said his republic will seriously consider becoming a member of the commonwealth.

A press spokesman for the Georgian mission in Moscow said that leaders of his southern republic also reacted very positively to the new treaty. “The Parliament will convene tomorrow to discuss its stand . . . but unofficially, everyone is very glad about what happened. I known for sure that (Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia) supports the position” of the Slavic leaders, said Nodar D. Akhaladze, the spokesman.

Even the Central Asian republic of Tadzhikstan, which has an ultra-conservative leadership, seemed likely to join the alliance. “Tadzhikstan . . . could join the commonwealth,” the news service of the independent Moscow-based newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported, based on information from Dushanbe. But at the same time, residents of Tadzhikistan do not “exclude the creation in the near future of a commonwealth of sovereign states of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.”

But Nazarbayev firmly rejected the notion that Kazakhstan would be willing to join such a republic, saying he would consider it a retreat to the “Middle Ages.”

Nazarbayev, whose republic is second in geographical size only to Russia, said he still supports Gorbachev’s proposal for a democratic confederative state. But, as a “pragmatist,” he said he would be flexible enough to consider the commonwealth, if other republics refused to consider Gorbachev’s plan.

Kravchuk made it clear that after decades of domination by Moscow, Ukraine would never agree to a union with a central government, as Gorbachev proposes.

“We were against only one factor--having a state govern us,” Kravchuk told reporters. “Ukraine has always called for integration. Today, using their constitutional rights, the three states showed an example of such integration, which is similar to the forms existing in Europe. We are open to all who share our aims and principles.”

Kravchuk said the commonwealth was likely to attract such members as the Baltics, which succeeded in separating from the Soviet Union after the hard-line putsch in August, and Bulgaria.

The political stage will now shift to the parliaments of Ukraine, then Russia, which are expected to vote on ratification of the commonwealth later this week.

While the Ukrainian Parliament is scheduled to make its decision on the new alliance today, Yeltsin postponed the discussion and vote in the Russian Parliament until Thursday so he will have time to rally support for the commonwealth.

Meanwhile, the first three members of the commonwealth already have started coordinating their economic reform plans. Russia decided to postpone freeing price controls from Dec. 16 to Jan. 2 because its commonwealth partners were unprepared to make the move, Yegor T. Gaidar, a top Russian official who heads Yeltsin’s economic reforms, said in a televised interview.

A more detailed description of the commonwealth published Monday stated that the independent states will share common armed forces under joint command, coordinate their foreign policy and work together to mitigate the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.

Death of a Nation: A Chronology

Here are some key events in the breakup of the Soviet Union: March 11, 1985--Mikhail S. Gorbachev is elected general secretary of Communist Party, which adopts his platform of perestroika , or restructuring of the Soviet system, in April.

June 28, 1988--19th Communist Party conference closes with call for creation of new Parliament, strengthened presidency, market economy and greater republic control of economic affairs.

Aug.-Dec. 1989--Communist governments in Eastern Europe fall after Gorbachev says he won’t use force to save them.

March 11, 1990--Lithuania declares independence. Its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Estonia, follow suit.

May 29, 1990--Boris N. Yeltsin is elected president of Russian Federation, which declares sovereignty and claims control of natural resources. By year’s end, all 15 Soviet republics declare some form of sovereignty, and Gorbachev proposes Union Treaty to keep them together.

July, 1990--Conservatives criticize Gorbachev at the 28th Communist Party Congress. Yeltsin and other radicals quit the party. Gorbachev purges several Old Guard members from Politburo.

March 17--Union Treaty is approved in a nationwide referendum.

April 2--Prices on many consumer goods rise by as much as 1,000%.

July 26--Communist leaders overwhelmingly approve Gorbachev’s new party platform, abandoning decades of Marxist dogma.

Aug. 19--Day before Gorbachev planned to sign Union Treaty with several republics, hard-line Communist junta moves to oust him.

Aug. 21--Coup fails, Gorbachev returns to Moscow.

Aug. 22--Lithuania outlaws the Communist Party.

Aug. 24--Gorbachev quits as Communist Party chief; Ukraine becomes seventh republic to declare independence.

Aug. 27--Gorbachev urges republics to preserve military, economic union; European Community recognizes Baltics’ independence.

Aug. 29--Soviet lawmakers suspend Communist Party activity and freeze its bank accounts because of party role in failed coup; Russia and Ukraine bypass Kremlin to form military, economic alliance.

Aug. 30--Azerbaijan declares independence, begins forming army.

Aug. 31--Uzbekistan and Kirghizia (now called Kyrgyzstan) become ninth and 10th republics to declare independence.

Sept. 2--Congress of People’s Deputies approves plan to reduce Kremlin authority but retain a loose federation of states; U.S. formally recognizes Baltic states.

Sept. 6--Soviet Union recognizes Baltics’ independence.

Sept. 12--Baltic states, 12 remaining republics agree to maintain collective defense and single control over Soviet nuclear arsenal.

Sept. 21--Armenia votes for independence from Soviet Union.

Oct. 18--Gorbachev, some republics sign treaty creating economic union to coordinate everything from communications to defense.

Nov. 4--Ukraine, after initially balking, agrees to join 11 other Soviet republics in new economic union.

Nov. 16--Yeltsin issues decrees giving Russia control over Soviet money supply and trade in oil, gold, diamonds, foreign currency.

Nov. 22--World’s richest democracies defer $3.6 billion in debt payments, and eight of the 12 republics agree to repay entire Soviet debt, estimated at more than $100 billion.

Nov. 25--Seven republics fail to endorse Union Treaty but promise to send it to their individual legislatures for consideration.

Dec. 1--Ukrainian voters approve independence referendum.

Dec. 3--Gorbachev issues appeal to save Soviet Union, warning of possible warfare and “catastrophe for all mankind.”

Dec. 4--Supreme Soviet endorses Union Treaty.

Dec. 8--Russia, Ukraine, Belarus form a commonwealth and declare Gorbachev’s government dead.

SOURCE: Associated Press