Two Soviet republics, the Ukraine and Moldavia, signed the economic union treaty Wednesday, joining eight other republics to give a major boost to the emerging loose federation that is replacing the old union.
The two republics signed the treaty in a brief ceremony in the Kremlin attended by President Mikhail Gorbachev, Moldavian Prime Minister Valery Muravski and Ukranian Prime Minister Vitold Fokin, the Soviet news agency Tass reported.Muravski told reporters after the ceremony that the treaty would not compromise Moldavia's drive for independence, the independent Interfax news agency said. He said the republic had no intention "of joining any political union."
The decision to sign the treaty by the two independence-minded republics came as fears mounted over a possible breakdown in inter-republic trade.
The Moldavian government said Tuesday that drastic cuts in energy deliveries from other republics had reduced the republic's gas and fuel supplies to less than one-tenth of normal seasonal levels. The republic "is now unable to harvest its crops or even supply fuel for ambulances," Tass said.
The Ukrainian Parliament, which voted narrowly to give its consent to signing the treaty Wednesday after two days of stormy debate, also appeared to have been swayed by economic arguments.
During the debate, Fokin told reluctant legislators, many of whom argued that joining the economic community would compromise Ukrainian sovereignty, that disruptions in inter-republic trade had hurt production in several sectors of the Ukraine's economy.
All the Soviet republics are dependent for their energy supplies on the giant Russian republic, which produces 90 percent of the Soviet Union's oil and sells it to the other republics at heavily subsidized prices.
The decision by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to free prices in the Russian Federation will likely affect energy supplies to other republics.
The Ukraine and Moldavia were among four republics, including Georgia and Azerbaijan, that refused to sign the economic union treaty on Oct. 18.
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Moscow Mayor Gavriil Popov said Wednesday the city government will ration some basic goods such as bread and meat at low prices beginning Dec. 1 to cushion consumers against price rises.
The decision was made Tuesday by the Moscow City Council amid recent panic-buying in the capital's poorly stocked stores by consumers anticipating price increases.
Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin announced last week that price controls would be lifted in January as part of the radical transformation of the economy that has picked up steam in recent weeks.