Clinton Shows Confidence in Ukraine’s Arms Efforts : Weapons: President uses the carrot approach to prod the former Soviet republic into giving up its nuclear missiles.

President Clinton said Friday that he is “personally well-satisfied” with Ukraine’s progress toward dismantling former Soviet nuclear weapons still on its territory, despite mixed assessments by government and private analysts on how much has been done.

At a news conference with visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, Clinton expressed confidence that the Ukrainian Parliament will ratify the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, as Kravchuk has pledged.

His comments came as the Administration went all out to put the best face on U.S. relations with Ukraine in hopes of encouraging Kravchuk and his government to move more quickly on the nuclear weapons issue and to make market-oriented reforms in Ukraine’s economy.

As expected, Clinton announced that the United States would more than double its previous $330 million in annual aid to Ukraine to $700 million; half will go to help finance the transfer and dismantling of nuclear weapons and half for general economic assistance.

Kravchuk’s visit was something of a victory for the Ukrainian president, who had been pressing to come to Washington for months.

He had been rebuffed until he signed an accord on dismantling the remaining Soviet missiles.

He brought along figure skaters Oksana Baiul, the waif-like 16-year-old girl who won an Olympic gold medal last week, and 1992 men’s Olympic gold medalist Viktor Petrenko. The two athletes toured the White House and shook hands with Clinton at the meeting’s end.

As well as the increased economic aid, the White House unveiled additional benefits, from new investment and tax treaties with Ukraine to support for the country’s application for membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

The White House said it also is reducing U.S. tariffs on a variety of Ukrainian goods under the Generalized System of Preferences, a trade program often used to benefit developing countries.

U.S. officials have expressed fear that Ukraine would become a major geopolitical threat if it did not agree to return or dismantle the remaining Soviet warheads. With 1,600 nuclear warheads, it is the third-largest nuclear power, behind the United States and Russia.

Under the accord, signed in January, Ukraine has pledged to dismantle the Soviet missiles or return them to Russia for destruction.

There have been conflicting reports about just how many nuclear warheads Ukraine actually has sent back to Russia, but analysts said that despite Clinton’s comments Friday, the progress has been modest.

Although the country is eligible for up to $1.2 billion in U.S. aid to help pay for dismantling the nuclear weapons, it so far has qualified for only about $150 million; U.S. officials, however, said they expect Ukraine to accelerate its program.

Ukrainian lawmakers have already failed once to ratify the non-proliferation treaty, another major part of the accord.

But Kravchuk insisted Friday that it would do so after March 27 parliamentary elections. He said that lawmakers are out campaigning.

Ukraine has also done virtually nothing to move away from the kind of state-run economy that prevailed when the Communists were in power.

U.S. officials said they hope that the aid Washington promised Friday will help push the country toward making some reforms.

Kravchuk himself made the most of Friday’s ceremonies, asserting that his meeting with Clinton “can be without exaggeration called a historic moment in (the) relationship between our two states.”