Aspin Tries to Get Ukraine to Give Up Its Nuclear Arms

KIEV, Ukraine — Defense Secretary Les Aspin on Sunday scrambled to negotiate a compromise that would persuade Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons and turn them over to a third party for storage and dismantlement.

On Sunday, Aspin shuttled between Russian and Ukrainian officials exploring a solution to the intractable problem of Ukraine’s nuclear weapons, which by international agreement are to be removed from Ukraine and dismantled.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian politicians have balked at their earlier commitment and suggested that Ukraine would keep the weapons. Such a move would make Ukraine the world’s third-largest nuclear weapons power, behind the United States and Russia.

That prospect has cast Washington in the middle, and Aspin is suddenly presiding over an intricate deal-making process to settle where the weapons would go and who would dismantle them, as well as how Ukraine would be compensated for surrendering them.

Not only are the stakes high, but time, U.S. officials said, is short. Nuclear experts said that within as little as six months, Ukraine could devise ways to seize some form of control over the once-Soviet nuclear weapons on its soil. In the face of such estimates, Russia, which expected to be handed the nuclear weapons without a fight, has insisted that Ukraine turn over the weapons without delay and without further haggling.

But in meetings with Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev on Sunday, Aspin sought to convince the Russians that only a softer line toward Kiev will separate Ukraine from the 176 long-range missiles on its soil.

Before flying to Kiev on Sunday, where he met with Ukrainian Defense Minister Konstantin Morozov, Aspin explored Russia’s willingness to accept compromises on how and where the nuclear weapons could be removed.

Defense officials said that Aspin laid before Grachev the possibility that Ukraine’s nuclear weapons could be dismantled and stored under U.S. or international supervision. While Grachev did not categorically reject options offered by Aspin, a defense official said the Russian military chief raised concerns about any effort to accommodate Ukraine’s stance on nuclear arms.

Russia, meanwhile, took additional steps to end its Cold War relationship with the United States. Aspin and Grachev on Sunday formally announced that later this year, the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, based in Germany, will conduct mock peacekeeping maneuvers with a motorized rifle division from Russia’s Volga Military District.