Russia signed a troop withdrawal agreement with Moldova and secured agreement for a new Inter-State Economic Committee to be based in Moscow at a Commonwealth of Independent States summit meeting Friday.


Under the watchful eyes of presidents Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Mircea Snegur of Moldova, the two countries' prime ministers started the clock ticking on a deal, long in negotiation, to pull Russia's 15,000 strong 14th Army out of Moldova within three years.


In Moldova, however, the 14th Army's commander, General Alexander Lebed, said the agreement could reignite the crisis in the region and force his own troops to take sides.


Lebed, a popular maverick often critical of the government, told Reuters that most of his soldiers were born in the region and would stay and form a "national liberation army of the Dnestr" if the 14th Army is ordered out.


But despite the potential for conflict with Lebed, it was the establishment of an economic committee in Moscow that Yeltsin chose to highlight at a press conference after the 12-nation summit meeting,.


Yeltsin clearly regarded the decision as a victory and a sign that the Commonwealth, which he said had "always lacked resolve," was able to decide on a "concrete question."


The agreement includes plans for a free-trade zone, customs and payments unions. President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus lobbied in vain to have the committee based in Minsk, the official seat of the Commonwealth.


Ukraine and other Commonwealth members have objected to the creation of any centralized Commonwealth institutions since the organization -- consisting of the former Soviet republics except Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- was formed nearly three years ago.


The issue of economic union provoked heated debate Yeltsin said, and has raised the possibility of a two-speed Commonwealth with those states ready for monetary union going ahead.


Russia also won agreement for its a measure on the rights of minorities, Yeltsin said, another victory since the idea was thrown out at the last summit.