Tensions Rise Over Fate of Black Sea Fleet : Commonwealth: Yeltsin threatens to take over the naval force if Ukraine attempts to change its status.

Tensions between the two largest republics of the former Soviet Union flared again Friday, when Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin threatened to take the Black Sea Fleet under his control if “anyone”--meaning Ukraine--attempts to change its status.

Russia and Ukraine have been disputing the fate of the Black Sea Fleet, which has 45 cruisers, 28 submarines, 300 small and medium-sized vessels and 70,000 men, since soon after they created the Commonwealth of Independent States from parts of the former Soviet Union.

Yeltsin’s latest warning was apparently a response to Ukrainian President Leonid M. Kravchuk’s assertion earlier this week that his government would decide how large a navy it requires.

“Ukraine will have as many ships as it needs, not as many as the admirals allow,” Kravchuk said.

Yeltsin warned Ukraine against making unilateral decisions, declaring that the future of the fleet “can and will be decided in the framework of the Commonwealth of Independent States, through negotiations, using bilateral consultations between Ukraine and Russia.”

In Kiev, Yeltsin’s statement was viewed as another attempt by Russia to bully the smaller members of the Commonwealth.

“Of course, this statement by Yeltsin is bound to influence Russo-Ukrainian relations,” Vladimir I. Shlyaposhnikov, Kravchuk’s spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “It looks rather like (Yeltsin) is pounding his fist on the table.”

According to the Itar news service, Yeltsin made the statement after Commonwealth fleet commander Adm. Vladimir Chernavin told him that Ukraine planned to keep 90% of the fleet for itself.

Shlyaposhnikov said such a statement is “utterly incomprehensible” because Ukraine has said it will need about 30% of the fleet.

“Ukraine never made any statements to the effect that it intends to subordinate to itself the entire Black Sea Fleet, or even 90% of it,” the spokesman said. “But Ukraine does have a stake in the fate of the Black Sea Fleet because it has more than 1,000 kilometers (about 600 miles) of coastline and needs its own naval force to guard it.”

Kravchuk regularly flexes his political muscles to show Moscow that it can no longer give orders to Kiev as it has been doing for centuries. Ukraine has refused to participate in joint Commonwealth armed forces, despite great pressure from Yeltsin. Since it is creating its own army, Ukraine has asked former Soviet soldiers and sailors on its territory to take an oath of allegiance to its government.

The Crimean Peninsula, where the Black Sea Fleet is based, has also been an object of Russian-Ukrainian bickering. Both countries claim historical rights to the diamond-shaped piece of land, which is home to some of the best resorts of the former Soviet Union.

In the Crimea, officers expressed frustration that political leaders seem incapable of making up their minds about the fate of their fleet.

Andrei Lazebnikov, the spokesman for the Black Sea Fleet, said sailors do not like Kravchuk because they feel he insults them.

The sailors, like Yeltsin, interpreted Kravchuk’s statement earlier this week as an indication that he considers the whole fleet his.

“The main thought of (Kravchuk’s statement) was that the entire Black Sea fleet belongs to Ukraine; it doesn’t,” Lazebnikov said.

Col. Alexei Melnikov, a 20-year veteran of the fleet, said most of the men want the fleet to remain under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth and not be split up.

“As a sailor, I just can’t get into my head the idea of tearing up a fleet that serves two brotherly countries,” he said.

Reporter Viktor Grebenshikov, in Moscow, and special correspondent Alex Shpritsen, in the Crimea, contributed to this report.