Yeltsin Rolling the Dice With Clinton Summit

MOSCOW The first summit meeting between President Clinton andRussian President Boris N. Yeltsin holds much promise for the Russianside, which wants new aid to help prop up faltering reforms, but isalso fraught with tremendous risks for Yeltsin, under increasingattack for "selling out" to the West.

This summit was eagerly sought by Yeltsin last month asopponents of his reforms were trying to oust him. Yeltsin and otherRussian officials are hoping a new infusion of U.S. aid for veryconcrete, visible projects, coupled with some easing of oldanti-Soviet trade restrictions, will give Yeltsin and his free-marketprograms a needed boost going into a critical nationwide referendumon April 25.

But, in the current extremely unpredictable political atmosphere- in which many Russians feel impoverished by Yeltsin's economicreforms and disheartened at their country's collapse from superpowerstatus into an international basket case - the summit easily couldbackfire, many here believe.

Yeltsin cannot afford to be seen as an unequal partner beggingfor help from the United States and willing to make concessions onforeign policy and other issues to stay on America's good side. Hiscritics - mostly hard-line nationalists and former Communists -already have accused the United States and the West of wanting todestroy Russia with aid packages conditioned on stringent economicchanges. While the critics still represent only a fraction of publicopinion, their influence is growing both in the legislature and amongthe hard-pressed general public.

Even Clinton's strong personal support for Yeltsin is a mixedblessing. Some voters take Western endorsements as important signsof confidence, while others believe the West should back democracywithout "meddling" by singling out specific people for support.

"If Clinton is going to give aid personally to Yeltsin, it will be counterproductive, because it willimmediately be used against Yeltsin by the opposition," said YevgenyAmbartsumov, a centrist who heads the parliament's foreign affairscommittee. "There must be assistance to the processes ofdemocratization."