Ukraine Lawmakers OK Initial Dismantling of Nuclear Arsenal

Parliament gave tacit approval Thursday for this country to begin scrapping 200 of its more than 1,500 nuclear warheads as part of a deal struck last month in Moscow. But lawmakers refused to declare Ukraine a non-nuclear state, as the United States, Russia and their own president have demanded.

Further, the resolution on nuclear arms, passed by 260 of the 296 Ukrainian lawmakers Thursday, was so vaguely crafted and hinged on such legal technicalities that many deputies could not say what its effect will be. “I have no idea what we voted for,” complained legislator Ihor Dercacz.

A top government official said President Leonid Kravchuk will interpret the measure as a green light to begin transferring the first 200 weapons to Russia in return for fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants. “We are going ahead” with disarmament, the official said. “I can’t see anything that can get in the way now.”

During President Clinton’s visit to Moscow in January, Clinton, Kravchuk and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin signed an agreement committing Ukraine to giving up its nuclear weapons in seven years in exchange for American economic aid, security guarantees and nuclear fuel. But the conservative Parliament has, so far, proven ambivalent about whether giving up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal will leave Ukraine defenseless against possible Russian aggression.

Last November, Parliament approved the START I disarmament treaty in principle but said it applied to fewer than half of the 176 nuclear-tipped strategic missiles on Ukrainian soil. Lawmakers then added tough conditions that made their approval meaningless.

Kravchuk and his government told Parliament on Thursday that the deal struck in Moscow satisfies most of those conditions--and that Ukraine will become a pariah nation if it refuses to sign. “To be left by oneself in the international community, even if you think you are right, is a losing game,” Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko said.

In the first sign that Parliament agrees, the preamble of the measure passed Thursday says the three nations “will adhere” to the deal, which “makes it possible to satisfy the conditions” that Parliament set when it ratified START I. The preamble, however, is not legally binding.

Parliament also refused to approve the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a move that could irritate the West. Lawmakers fear that if they renounce all nuclear weapons, they will then forfeit the right to demand compensation for warheads they hand over.

“Ukraine should approve the non-proliferation treaty only if the United States and Russia explicitly recognize its rights,” said Yuri I. Kostenko, a key lawmaker.

Kravchuk hopes to get a less ambiguous mandate to disarm from the new Parliament to be elected in March. Meanwhile, he wants to keep the volatile nuclear issue from dominating the spring election campaign. Already, Communists accuse him of selling out to the United States, while nationalists charge him with appeasing Russia.

Parliament may be coming around, but Kravchuk’s allies say he will still have to “run between the raindrops” to make the disarmament deal stick.