Yeltsin, EC Officials Sign Trade Declaration : Commerce: The Brussels accord puts Russia on a path that could lead to its membership in the European Community.

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and European Community officials signed a preliminary declaration Thursday pointing toward an economic and political partnership between the two former enemies.

Their “joint political declaration”--in effect, an agreement to agree in the near future on the terms of enhanced trade between the two sides--puts Russia on a path that could lead to its membership in the EC.

“One more Berlin Wall has fallen,” Yeltsin said as he signed.

The declaration leaves Russia behind a long line of Eastern European countries moving toward EC membership.

Poland and Hungary, which become associate members on Jan. 1, are furthest along. Also ahead of Russia are the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.

“We want to be part and parcel of European life,” Yeltsin told reporters, “and this is the first step.”

Yeltsin and EC officials had hoped that they would be ready by Thursday to sign an actual trade agreement. When negotiations foundered, Yeltsin decided to come to Brussels anyway for a ceremony that would enhance his aura of statesmanship back home, three days before Russia’s parliamentary elections and a referendum on Yeltsin’s new constitution.

Among the obstacles to a trade agreement were Russia’s refusal to fully open its doors to foreign banks for five years and the EC’s fear of sudden competition from low-cost Russian aluminum. And France, the single country most heavily dependent on nuclear power, is worried about increased imports of Russian uranium and nuclear technology.

Jacques Delors, president of the European Commission, the EC’s executive body, said he expected a final agreement to be ready for signature “in a few days.”

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander N. Shokhin, speaking with reporters in Moscow earlier in the week, said he expected the agreement to take effect in 1995.

“Three years after that, in 1998, Russia will join the free-trade zone and become an associate member of the EC,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said, much of Russian industry will not be firmly enough established to compete directly with Western Europe.

“For example, we cannot allow West European auto makers into our market,” he said.

*

Havemann reported from Brussels, Boudreaux from Moscow.