United States Foreign Aid Russia

In what has become an annual tradition here, the House on Wednesday staved off attempts to reduce the budget for NASA's international space station. Much of the debate centered on a $100-million appropriation to help economically strapped Russia pay for its share of the station, which is scheduled to take flight in 2002. Supporters of this payment say it would strengthen diplomatic ties, while opponents liken it to writing "a blank check" to Russia.

Congressional Republicans gave a guarded assessment of President Clinton's proposed 44% increase in U.S. aid to the former Soviet Union. In his proposed fiscal 1998 budget, sent to Congress earlier this month, the president is seeking $900 million in aid for Russia and 11 former Soviet republics, up from $625 million this year. "Our committee can and intends to work with you," House International Relations Committee Chairman Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.) told J.

President Clinton on Sunday assured anxious Russians that the United States will remain a close and generous partner and cautioned disillusioned voters against being lured from the path of reform by the siren song of nostalgia. After a day spent in the spotlight with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, Clinton took his case directly to the Russian people that the world is safer now that the former superpower adversaries have put aside their nuclear rivalry.

Shamsurdin Midayev held a chunk of gray metal, part of a Russian rocket that had smashed through the roof of his home, and shook it angrily in what he believed to be the general direction of Bill Clinton. "You Americans give them credits so they can buy this," roared Midayev, 38, a tall accountant with a potbelly and a dark pirate's mustache. "This is your humanitarian aid to Russia!" The furious accountant was talking about the International Monetary Fund's decision to lend Russia $6.4 billion.

Gathering ammunition for a battle with Congress over the need to help Russia disarm, Defense Secretary William J. Perry visited this once-secret military industrial city Sunday to see how U.S. money has helped one plant switch from building missile-guidance systems to manufacturing hearing aids. A U.S.

President Clinton on Thursday pledged $20 million in humanitarian aid to victims of the Russian suppression of the rebellion in Chechnya but reaffirmed U.S. support for Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and his irregular efforts at political and economic reform. Appearing with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl after a 2 1/2-hour White House meeting, Clinton chastised Yeltsin for the "corrosive effect" that the Chechen conflict is having on democratic reforms in Russia.

Russia warned the new, Republican-led U.S. Congress on Tuesday to refrain from "confrontational outbursts" and appeals to "punish Russia" by restricting American aid. The unusually strong warning by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigory Karasin was a response to a bill introduced last month in the House of Representatives by Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon (R-N.Y.), one of a growing number of GOP lawmakers who want to make U.S.

Yelena Bonner, one of Russia's most prominent human rights campaigners, told U.S. lawmakers Thursday that the West should suspend financial aid to Russia because of the war in Chechnya. "The only exception to this should be humanitarian aid," Bonner said through a translator at a congressional hearing on the Chechen rebellion. Bonner, widow of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei D. Sakharov, blamed Russian President Boris N.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher held amicable talks Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev, clearly indicating that, despite the war raging in Chechnya, the Clinton Administration does not want to penalize Russia for its use of force. Kozyrev, grateful for the Clinton Administration's relatively mild response to Chechnya, promised after the talks ended that Russia will not let the end of the Cold War deteriorate into a "cold peace," as Russian President Boris N.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, escalating U.S. pressure on the Kremlin, warned Saturday that economic aid to Russia is sure to be slashed if President Boris N. Yeltsin does not stop the bloodshed in Chechnya soon and repair his tattered relationship with democratic reformers. Christopher said he will tell Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev when they meet in Geneva this week that Congress is certain to curtail or even eliminate aid to Russia unless the fighting ends quickly.