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Subject: Bush-Clinton Cooperation Urged In 'High Risk' Period for Russia;Sen. Nunn Says
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 92 10:44:02 EST
Message-ID: <52.1992Nov26.104402@AmeriCast.com>
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Bush-Clinton Cooperation Urged In 'High Risk' Period for
Russia;Sen. Nunn Says Policy Being Made Ad Hoc, Not
Coordinated<By Don Oberdorfer=Washington Post Staff Writer=

Two prominent U.S. senators called yesterday for extraordinary
cooperation between the outgoing Bush administration and the in-
coming Clinton administration to deal effectively with what they
termed a "high risk" period for a democratic Russia.

"Our country and the Western world does not have the luxury of
declaring a recess while we change administrations," declared
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), recently returned from an eight-day visit
to Russia and four other former Soviet republics. Joined by Sen.
Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), who also made the trip, Nunn told re-
porters the United States needs a more coherent strategy for
dealing with the former Soviet Union and urged the appointment of
"a single, high-level coordinator" to prevent a gap in policy
between the Bush and Clinton administrations.

"We've got some people who are doing a good job ad hoc, but
everything is ad hoc," he said. "There is no overall coordination
in our government."

The senatorial comments were offered amid growing concern in of-
ficial circles about increasingly difficult economic and politi-
cal circumstances in Russia during the U.S. transition. A senior
U.S. official said the Russian economy continues to decline with
no reversal in sight, while President Boris Yeltsin faces a major
challenge from legislators in a session of the Congress of Peo-
ples Deputies that begins Tuesday.

Russian Ambassador to the United States Vladimir P. Lukin said in
an interview that the American domestic situation appears to have
entered a "protracted pause" which is "really very dangerous" for
his country. Lukin, who leaves Washington this weekend to attend
the legislative session in Moscow, charged that the U.S. govern-
ment bureaucracy is not listening to its political leadership,
which wishes to help Russia.

Despite a pledge of $24 billion in aid to Russia made last spring
by the United States and six other leading industrialized demo-
cracies, "until now, we didn't receive anything," Lukin main-
tained. A U.S. Treasury official, however, quoted International
Monetary Fund (IMF) figures saying at least $17.4 billion in aid
- about two-thirds of the pledged total - had been disbursed to
Russia this year.  Russians might not realize they have received
the aid, said the Treasury official, because it has been provided
in a number of different forms, including debt relief and agri-
cultural credits, and because "their system of gathering informa-
tion has broken down." The official said the foreign aid has been
offset to a large degree by the flight of sizable funds from Rus-
sia.  The office of Richard L. Armitage, special coordinator for
administration aid efforts, made public a six-page summary of
U.S. assistance to Russia, ranging from food and medicine to
technical assistance and private sector contributions. Lugar
praised Armitage and Gen. Willam Burns, who is coordinator on nu-
clear issues, and recommended they should be kept in their jobs
until the Clinton administration is fully prepared to take over
their functions.

A State Department spokesman said $205 million in special aid for
denuclearization and demilitarization of the former Soviet Union
has been committed out of a total of $800 million authorized by
legislation sponsored by Nunn and Lugar a year ago.

Nonetheless, Nunn said it is "alarming" that the Bush administra-
tion now appears to be disengaged from vigorously pursuing poli-
cies involving Russia.

"I don't think we have a strategy. We're doing everything ad
hoc," Nunn said, explaining that a coherent strategy was needed
to relate economic assistance to such political concerns as nu-
clear arms control and ethnic tensions among the former Soviet
republics.

"The problem now is both the president and the president-elect
are bending over backward not to intrude on each other's turf.
And it's simply not one of those times that we can afford that,"
said Nunn, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
and the subject of speculation for a possible Clinton Cabinet
post, including secretary of state.

Nunn said he and Lugar would communicate their views to both
President Bush and President-elect Clinton.  The Georgia senator
said there is "a real opportunity to complete a number of crucial
agreements" before the Bush administration leaves office in Janu-
ary.  Clinton, unless he has done so already, needs to tell Bush
"that he wants him to go ahead with these matters and that he
will back him on these matters," Nunn said.

Among the pending questions is completion of a "framework agree-
ment" for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals under the START II stra-
tegic arms reduction accord approved in general terms last June
during Yeltsin's visit to Washington.

Lukin said Russian negotiators have recently provided the United
States with a draft of proposals to solve several unsolved issues
in the way of the START II agreement. He said this was in
response to earlier U.S.  proposals dealing with these issues.

The questions under discussion, sources said, include destruction
or retention of Russian SS-18 missile silos, means of removing
nuclear warheads from Russian SS-19 missiles, restrictions on
U.S.  nuclear-armed bombers and the relationship of the proposed
accord to the 1972 Antiballistic Missile treaty.

A senior State Department official said Washington and Moscow be-
lieve that the outstanding issues should be settled before Bush
leaves office, and that U.S. responses to the latest Russian
ideas are being prepared.

In a related development, an Agriculture Department spokesman an-
nounced that Russia paid $10.9 million in overdue loans yesterday
afternoon, ending a one-day suspension from the U.S. commodity
aid program. An administration official attributed the late pay-
ment and temporary suspension to Moscow's preoccupation with the
coming legislative battle.<02:39 11-26

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)