5 Soviet Asian Republics Agree to Join Slavic Commonwealth : Alliance: Action by the Muslim areas heightens chances that new grouping will ultimately encompass the old Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s resignation is closer to reality.

The presidents of five Soviet Central Asian republics agreed Friday that they will join the Commonwealth of Independent States proclaimed by the leaders of the old Soviet Union’s big-three Slavic republics.

Their action heightens the chances that the burgeoning commonwealth will ultimately encompass most of the same territory embraced by the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and speeds the moment when Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is expected to resign his post.

According to his spokesman, Gorbachev is unlikely to resign until the legislatures of all eight republics that had intended to join his own proposed “union of sovereign states” ratify the commonwealth agreement. But that moment is approaching.

The parliaments of the five Central Asian republics--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan--will quickly begin debate on the commonwealth issue. Most of them are expected to have voted on the matter by the time Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin makes a planned visit to the region late next week.

The legislature of Azerbaijan has already voted favorably on the issue of a commonwealth, according to a Tass news agency report Wednesday, paving the way for that southern Soviet republic to join. Armenia and Moldova have also voiced keen interest in the plan, and the republic of Georgia is studying it.

Friday’s action by the presidents of the five predominantly Muslim Central Asian republics furnished a positive boost to the Slavic-drafted commonwealth plan by substantially expanding the potential ethnic diversity of the envisioned new loose association of states.

Nevertheless, the five presidents, in a statement distributed by Tass after their closed-door meeting in the Turkmeni capital of Ashkhabad, expressed disappointment because they were not consulted on the commonwealth plan ahead of time.

“(All republics) of the former Soviet Union should equally participate in preparing decisions and documents on the commonwealth. . . ,” the presidents said. “All states forming the commonwealth should be recognized as co-founders (of the commonwealth).”

Yeltsin and the other two leaders of the founding Slavic republics--Russia, Ukraine and Belarus--did not consult with their counterparts in the other republics before proclaiming the creation of the commonwealth last weekend. But their proclamation made clear that all other republics wishing to join may do so.

The five Central Asian leaders said they agreed with the move to replace the old Soviet Union with the commonwealth, but they also suggested some changes.

“The documents, decisions and agreements should reflect the historic, social and economic realities of the Central Asian republics and Kazakhstan, which, unfortunately, were not taken into consideration during the preparation of the (commonwealth) agreement,” the presidents’ statement said.

In other Friday developments:

* Gorbachev persuaded Ukrainian President Leonid M. Kravchuk to delay taking control of the conventional armed forces based in his republic’s territory, a Gorbachev spokesman said. Kravchuk on Thursday had assumed the role of commander in chief of troops and other non-strategic forces in Ukraine, including the Black Sea fleet.

* Ethnic violence rocked the southern republic of Moldova. Armed groups from the Dniester region, populated predominantly by Russians, clashed with Moldovan police in the city of Dubossary. Thirteen people were killed.

* Russian President Yeltsin announced plans to travel to Rome for a brief visit next week. From Rome, he plans to fly directly to Kazakhstan to meet with the leaders of the five Central Asian republics about the commonwealth.

Andrei Grachev, a Gorbachev spokesman, said that the Soviet president is satisfied about the decision of the five Central Asian republics to join in the debate on the country’s future, because he views it as positive that the commonwealth “may include all potential (elements) of the former Soviet Union.”

The five Central Asian republics together have a population of about 50 million, one-sixth of the population of the former Soviet Union, and their territories sprawl across one-fifth of the old Soviet map.

The inclusion of the Central Asian republics in the process all but destroyed any future chance for Gorbachev’s vision of a new Soviet Union: many republics joined together into a single state.

One of the things that most attracts the Central Asian leaders to the commonwealth is that power will be taken away from the central government, which Gorbachev--at least marginally--still controls. The commonwealth, formed less than a week ago in a Belarus hunting lodge by the three Slavic republics, envisions a loose association of independent states, which will coordinate economic reform plans and jointly control the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapons.

“The commonwealth idea offers us much of what we have been struggling for but without the central government, without its pressure and domination,” said Irismat Abdukhalikov, spokesman for Uzbek President Islam A. Karimov.

Akbar Reskhulov, spokesman for Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev, said his government supports the commonwealth because his republic seeks an end to many decades of domination by Moscow.

“The idea of a commonwealth gives us a unified economic space, a vast scope of ties in culture but no center. We favor this because with a central government we would be attached to the same role as before, where the center dictates the conditions and owns most of the riches,” Akayev said.

Gorbachev has said he would quit if a “majority” of Soviet republics joined the new entity, but Gorbachev spokesman Alexander A. Likhotal said his boss was not likely to offer his resignation until after parliaments of the eight republics that had planned to sign Gorbachev’s own union treaty have ratified the commonwealth instead.

So far the legislatures of Ukraine--which did not intend to sign the union treaty--Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan have approved the commonwealth accord, and four of the Central Asian republics may also do so very quickly. Uzbekistan, however, will not make a decision until after it holds presidential elections Dec. 29, according to Tass.

“Whether Gorbachev resigns now or not will not help nor hinder the process of forming the commonwealth,” Kyrgyzstan’s Reskhulov said. “It is the actions of the republic presidents that count now--they now make the decisions.”

Gorbachev will not resign earlier, Likhotal said, because he does not want to contribute to instability in society.

“Even after he resigns, he will stay in his post to ensure an acceptable and constitutional transition and to prevent the rise of violent conflicts in society,” Likhotal said.

Gorbachev, who wants any transition of power to be as peaceful as possible, telephoned Ukrainian President Kravchuk and asked him not to take control of armed forces in Ukraine immediately, and Kravchuk compromised, Gorbachev’s spokesman said.

“In a conversation, Kravchuk agreed with Gorbachev that military forces during the transition period will remain under unified control” of Moscow, Likhotal said.

There was no immediate official announcement of a reaction from the Slavic republics to the request by the leaders of Central Asian republics that they take part in the drafting of documents on the commonwealth and be considered co-founders.

Russian officials refused to make official comments, but Yeltsin spokesman Pavel I. Voshchanov implied that no complications are expected.

“The fact that Boris Nikolayevich (Yeltsin), after visiting Rome Dec. 19-20, will fly directly to Alma Ata (Kazakhstan) to be there on Dec. 21 should speak for itself,” Voshchanov said.

Radio Russia, however, said that Yeltsin telephoned Uzbek President Karimov to welcome their membership and to pledge that they can join as equal partners, as they have asked.

“Karimov has received an affirmative answer to the question of the possibility of the Central Asian republics taking part in founding the commonwealth,” the radio said.

Forming a Commonwealth

The parliaments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan have agreed to join the Commonwealth of Independent States. The five Central Asian republics are joining Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the proclaimers of the commonwealth. The legislature of Azerbaijan has already voted favorably on the commonwealth issue. Armenia and Moldova have expressed keen interest in the plan, and the republic of Georgia is studying it. Original members of the commonwealth: Russian Federation Ukraine Belarus Agreed to join the commonwealth: Azerbaijan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Tadzhikistan Kyrgyzstan Interested in commonwealth plan: Georgia Armenia

Commonwealth: What Will Change

If all the former Soviet republics join the new Commonwealth of Independent States, it may look outwardly like the old union. But there are key differences. Here’s a brief look: CAPITAL: The new commonwealth will be based in the Belarus capital of Minsk, instead of Moscow. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: The commonwealth will not have a central government or legislature, like the old union did. Its founders said it will have a weak “coordinating body” whose function and composition have not yet been decided. It is unclear whether it will have a president. DEFENSE: Members of the commonwealth have agreed to keep nuclear weapons under unified control. But the independent states can create their own conventional armies, as Ukraine is moving quickly to do. LEGAL STATUS OF REPUBLICS: The former Soviet republics were essentially provinces of the Soviet Union. The commonwealth is to be composed of fully independent states that can establish their own laws, foreign relations and other policies, although they may choose to coordinate them. Soviets often compare the commonwealth to the European Community or British Commonwealth. BUDGETS: Members of the commonwealth will set their own budgets, taxes and tariffs. The ruble is likely to remain a common currency for an interim period, during which member states will coordinate reforms and introduce separate currencies. Some central bodies, such as the Defense Ministry, may survive.