BISHKEK : Eleven for One

Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev says he believes the Commonwealth of Independent States--the troubled association of 11 former Soviet republics--is ready to enter a new and more effective stage. But as CIS leaders prepare to meet Friday in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the old issue of nuclear weapons tops the agenda.

Presidents of the four countries that still have strategic nuclear weapons on their territories--Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan--are to discuss plans to comply with short- and medium-range nuclear weapons reduction treaties signed by the former Soviet Union and the United States. Ukraine, deep in its own domestic political crisis, has yet to reach agreement with the three other countries. CIS leaders are also to discuss new mechanisms for military and economic relations.