Winning Friends, Influencing People

Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic whose government was recently toppled by a peaceful uprising, has informed mother Russia that their navy will need to seek other accommodations:

Ukraine will not extend Russia's lease on the naval base where its Black Sea fleet is based, Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk said Friday.

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Extending Russia's lease on the base would violate Ukraine's constitution, Tarasiuk said, and therefore was not being considered. He didn't elaborate.

After several years of tense arguments following the 1991 Soviet collapse, Russia and Ukraine divided the former Soviet fleet of ships and agreed to jointly operate the Sevastopol base.

But Tarasiuk on Friday said Russia had breached the agreement, saying the violations ''carried a systematic character,'' Ukrainian news agencies reported.

Last month, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry complained when Russia landed a marine battalion on Ukraine's Crimean shoreline without what it said was proper permission.

Leaders of Kyrgyzstan's interim government assured Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that political upheaval in this former Soviet republic would not jeopardize American use of an air base for supporting the war in Afghanistan.

The public assurances sounded a positive note for Rumsfeld on the final stop of a four-day trip that also took him to Iraq and Afghanistan, where the future of the U.S. military presence was addressed.