United States Foreign Relations Russia

As prospects for Russia's tattered economy worsened Wednesday, the Clinton administration hinted that the United States might be willing to provide more temporary aid if the crisis there escalates. The White House said President Clinton met with several key economic advisors to discuss the Russian situation as a senior Treasury official arrived in Moscow to discuss possible remedies. So rapidly is the financial picture there deteriorating, U.S.

President Boris N. Yeltsin reacted with outspoken anger Friday to news of U.S. missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan, but Russian officials said that his denunciations will not affect a summit meeting with President Clinton due to take place in Moscow in September. "My attitude is negative, as it would be to any act of terrorism, military interference or failure to solve a problem through negotiations," Yeltsin said. "Therefore, I am outraged, and I deplore this act."

White House officials are scrambling to rewrite the script for a problematic summit in Moscow next week, but they made clear Friday that President Clinton will bring little immediate economic assistance to prop up either Russia's falling ruble or its weakened president, Boris N. Yeltsin. "The key political and economic choices are up to the Russian people themselves," National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger said.

President Clinton said Sunday that the United States will support Russia's efforts to get additional financial aid from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to deal with its economic crisis, which has sent stocks in Moscow plunging and the interest rate soaring.

In a televised rebuke that appeared to startle Defense Secretary William S. Cohen on his first trip to this capital, the Russian defense minister Thursday denounced the United States' "uncompromising and tough" stand on Iraq and warned that airstrikes on Baghdad could have "grave consequences" for U.S.-Russian military ties. "Is America ready for all the possible consequences?" Igor D.

The breach that erupted Thursday between the United States and Russia over Iraq has been building for a long time, rooted in suspicions about duplicity and espionage, conflicting political goals and cynicism over rival economic interests in the Persian Gulf region. The tensions over Iraq have grown gradually since the 1991 Persian Gulf War but have been largely papered over to preserve a strong diplomatic relationship between the two former rivals.

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin declared Wednesday that he believed progress was being made toward peaceful resolution of the Iraqi standoff and warned President Clinton that he could provoke a world war if he went ahead with threatened airstrikes. It was the strongest statement Yeltsin has made in the latest confrontation between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the U.N. Special Commission charged with verifying that Baghdad has no means of producing weapons of mass destruction.

The standoff over Baghdad's refusal to allow unconditional U.N. weapons inspections moved into a new phase Wednesday, as the United States shifted from diplomacy to planning for possible airstrikes against Iraq. The Senate continued work on a resolution, expected to pass today, endorsing tough military action, and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen prepared to leave tonight for an eight-day mission to Europe and the Mideast to brief allies on U.S.

One of the first things Bill Clinton did when he returned from Africa to work in the Oval Office on Monday was to phone his old friend Boris N. Yeltsin. It must have been quite a schmooze, a toast to old times by two inveterate campaigners. There was lots to talk about. Over the last couple of weeks, Clinton has celebrated the dismissal of the Paula Corbin Jones case, while Yeltsin fired his entire Cabinet. So on the surface, at least, it's back to business.

After mounting a blistering attack on the U.S. bombing of Iraq, Russia swallowed its pride, shelved its anti-American rhetoric and agreed Wednesday to accept 3.1 million tons of emergency food from the United States. In an abrupt turnaround that demonstrates how far Russia has fallen from its days of Soviet glory, officials joined the U.S.