Yeltsin Visits Italy, Collects $1.3 Billion : Diplomacy: ‘There is no more U.S.S.R. and no turning back,’ he says as Rome frees up valuable credits.

While radical decrees in his name swept away the shards of the dying Soviet state back home, visiting Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin received a royal welcome and a $1.3-billion Christmas present Thursday from an Italian government still unabashedly fond of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“There is no more U.S.S.R. and no turning back,” Yeltsin told Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti on a day in which the commonwealth-builder made his first foray west in search of recognition and much needed financial assistance.

He got both. He was welcomed by a quick-learned rendition of the Russian national anthem from an Italian military band, and then heard an even sweeter music: the release of $1.3 billion in Italian credits frozen in the tumult of last August’s failed coup. Yeltsin also got the Imperial Suite at the Quirinale presidential palace, high in a tower with a splendid view of Rome and the red, white and czarist-blue Russian flag flying above its parapets.

“Look, they recognize us already,” Yeltsin joked as the Carabinieri band played an anthem whose score had been faxed from Moscow two days before.

Today, the Russian leader-turned-traveling-salesman will also receive head-of-state honors from the Swiss Guard at the Vatican, where he visits Pope John Paul II. Then he flies to Alma-Ata in the newly independent republic of Kazakhstan to seek the membership of Soviet Central Asian republics in the new commonwealth he has forged to replace the Soviet Union.

Italy, which has been the Soviet Union’s largest Western trading partner after Germany, freed the credits blocked by a state loan guarantee agency to allow the purchase of badly needed food and consumer goods.

In effect, Yeltsin cashed in on promises made to Gorbachev: To support him, Italy pledged $6 billion in credits over the next three years to what was then the Soviet Union. Italy has invested in joint ventures in the Soviet Union for decades, and 80% of the ventures are in the Russian Federation.

Explaining why the credit freeze was lifted, Italian Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis said: “The will shown by the Russian republic to negotiate for itself changes the situation. Yeltsin made it known that Russia has extreme need of these credits and that the big cities will be the recipients.” The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned Thursday of worsening food shortages in Soviet cities after a 25% decline in production this year.

On his Roman rounds Thursday, Yeltsin may have heard the name Gorbachev more times than he might have liked on a visit clearly intended to polish his own international image.

When he stopped on one street corner to shake hands, a Roman man-in-the-street asked a question that seemed to be on many other Italian minds as well: “What about Gorbachev?”

“Don’t worry about him. There are no problems,” Yeltsin replied, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Laying political and economic foundations for his newborn nation, Yeltsin met with Italian business leaders as well as with the government and politicians.

“The aim of my visit is to establish direct relations between independent Russia and Italy,” Yeltsin said on arrival at the Quirinale to meet President Francesco Cossiga.

Yeltsin’s reception amounted to de facto recognition of an independent Russia, which, De Michelis said, “will be formalized in the next few days in coordination with the other countries of the European Community.”

Yeltsin, who will lay a wreath, but otherwise spend this morning sightseeing in old Rome with his wife, Naya, provoked only modest interest among Christmas shoppers as his Zil limousine swept through streets jammed two years ago this month by crowds vying for a glimpse of Gorbachev.

“I have great fondness for Gorbachev,” Andreotti told Yeltsin.

Andreotti’s spokesman said that in his meeting with Yeltsin, the Italian leader “did not hide his displeasure that events and policies” had spun beyond Gorbachev’s control.

Yeltsin also expressed his regrets at Gorbachev’s decline but said that current political changes represent “an unstoppable process,” Italian spokesman Pio Mastrobuoni told reporters.

After 90 minutes of talks described as “very private,” Andreotti and Yeltsin initialed agreements on cultural and technological cooperation.

Italy, whose trade deficit with the Soviet Union will exceed $2 billion this year because of rising imports and stagnant exports, would dearly like to help retool Russian arms industries for civilian purposes.

Italian manufacturers in Russia are already embarked on joint ventures in the automotive, aerospace, telecommunication, clothes manufacturing and power engineering industries.

Although he could not hope to match Gorbachev’s magic with Italians, Yeltsin went out of his way to prove himself to be a man of the people. He walked from Andreotti’s office to pay a a protocol visit to the Italian Parliament, where the Speaker of the house, Nilde Iotti, is also a former Communist.

Along the way, Yeltsin shook hands and bantered with Romans on chill, dark and smoggy streets.

“I recognize you,” hollered one man, “You stood on a tank in Moscow.”

Yeltsin listened to the translation and smiled: “Yes, it was me.”

Soviet Republics’ Positions on New Commonwealth

Here is a breakdown of the positions of the 12 Soviet republics on the Commonwealth of Independent States: RUSSIA, UKRAINE, BELARUS: Parliaments of the three Slavic republics have ratified the agreement. KAZAKHSTAN, UZBEKISTAN, TADZHIKISTAN, KYRGYZSTAN, TURKMENISTAN: The Soviet Central Asian republics will join the commonwealth. ARMENIA: Has agreed to join the commonwealth. AZERBAIJAN, MOLDOVA: Have expressed strong interest in joining the commonwealth. GEORGIA: Is considering its position.

(Southland Edition) Where Soviet Republics Stand on Missile Bases

Here is a look at the positions of the four republics with strategic nuclear bases: RUSSIA: President Boris N. Yeltsin proposed basing all nuclear weapons in the Russian Federation. BELARUS: Chairman Stanislav Shushkevich said the republic wants to become a neutral, nuclear-free state. KAZAKHSTAN: President Nursultan Nazarbayev said he would like the republic to become nuclear-free. UKRAINE: President Leonid M. Kravchuk said he would seek to eliminate all nuclear arms in Ukraine by the year 2,000.