Russia to Keep Troops in Former Soviet Lands : Military: Assertion raises alarm in Baltics. But Moscow says republics’ approval will be sought.

In a sign of resurgent Russian nationalism, Foreign Minister Andrei D. Kozyrev asserted Tuesday that Russia must maintain a long-term “military presence” in the former Soviet republics beyond its borders.

The statement, made to Russian ambassadors gathered in Moscow and reported by two Russian news agencies, raised alarm in Estonia and Latvia that President Boris N. Yeltsin might be reversing his pledge to withdraw the last 20,000 former Soviet troops from those Baltic nations by the end of 1994.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Galina E. Sidorova, said later that Kozyrev’s statement “has nothing to do with the Baltics.” She said Russia plans to keep its troops only in those countries that agree to let them stay.

Even so, his remarks were the strongest indication, though not the first, that Russia wants to have a permanent military role in what Russians call the “near abroad” rather than bring all its troops home by 1995 as Yeltsin once promised.

Russia inherited the bulk of the Soviet army that collapsed in 1991 and maintains an estimated 250,000 troops in 12 of the 14 other ex-Soviet republics--all but Lithuania and Azerbaijan. Russian troops are a source of conflict in some, particularly Georgia and Tajikistan.

Kozyrev reasserted the army’s intention to defend ethnic Russians and keep peace in such countries, despite Yeltsin’s failure to win President Clinton’s endorsement of a special Russian sphere of influence at their summit here last week.

The foreign minister’s speech may have been tailored to shifting political currents at home on the eve of a government shake-up. Key members of the government’s reform wing are fighting for their Cabinet jobs in the wake of the stronger showing in last month’s parliamentary elections by ultranationalist Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, who favors conquering Russia’s neighbors by force.

Kozyrev, a reformer who opposes Russian bullying, has been voicing a more assertive position in foreign policy since the election and is widely expected to keep his post.

“We should not withdraw from those regions that have been the sphere of Russian interests for centuries, and we should not fear the words (military presence),” he told the ambassadors, according to accounts by the Itar-Tass and Interfax news agencies. “Although military domination is not in Moscow’s interests, it would be dangerous to create a vacuum.”

Because Kozyrev’s audience included Russian ambassadors to the Baltic nations, officials in Estonia and Latvia assumed his remarks were aimed at them. His statement came a week after military commanders sent new orders to Russian troops in those countries to respond with gunfire to any provocations.

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs said Kozyrev’s statement meant “a serious change in the policy of Russia” and “a threat to Latvia’s sovereignty.”

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said the United States cannot accept a decision to station Russian troops in any former Soviet republic against the wishes of the local government. He said the U.S. government is seeking a clarification of Kozyrev’s remarks, since Yeltsin had promised Clinton last week to withdraw from Estonia and Latvia.

As Yeltsin discussed the Cabinet makeup Tuesday with Prime Minister Viktor S. Chernomyrdin, the economic reform team identified with the president for the past two years was unraveling. The ruble plunged in value for a second day, dropping to 1,504 per dollar from 1,354 at the start of the week.

Finance Minister Boris G. Fyodorov, the leading reformer still in office after Economy Minister Yegor T. Gaidar’s resignation Sunday, was fighting what appeared to be a losing battle for his job.

Fyodorov, credited with stabilizing the ruble and cutting inflation from a monthly rate of 30% a year ago to 12% last month, threatened to quit unless he was given a higher rank than two of his foes--Central Bank President Viktor V. Gerashchenko and Alexander K. Zaveryukha, who oversees agricultural policy. After Fyodorov was rebuffed, he insisted on the two men’s resignation, but Itar-Tass said Chernomyrdin rejected that demand too.

Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington contributed to this report.