President Clinton and other Western leaders worked hard at a nuclear safety summit on Saturday to burnish the image of Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, who is lagging behind the Communist Party candidate in his race for re-election.
French President Jacques Chirac was almost gushingly enthusiastic about Yeltsin. Clinton was more subtle, careful to avoid the impression of meddling in Russia’s domestic affairs.
But their message was the same:
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Russia is rebounding economically after four years of jarring reforms that crippled production and set off an inflationary spiral; it can count on continued aid from abroad, but only if it remains faithful to Yeltsin’s democratic and pro-market programs–and, by implication, to Yeltsin himself.
“I believe that the economy is getting better and that, because of that, more aid will be able to flow now,” Clinton said at the end of the two-day gathering.
“And I think that, if you can stay on the course of reform, I believe that there will be marked improvements in the next couple of years.”
Chirac, who served as co-chairman of the summit with Yeltsin, praised the Russian president for calling for the session and persuading other key world figures to take part.
“I have the impression that Russia is being rebuilt right before our eyes, and I would like to thank President Yeltsin,” Chirac said at a Kremlin news conference with his Russian counterpart.
Such laudatory comments underscored the reason for holding the summit in Moscow seven weeks before Russians elect their next president.
In addition to a wide-ranging discussion of terrorism and other nuclear safety issues, the leaders agreed to complete a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty this year. “Never before have all our nations joined as one and embraced this goal which would ban any nuclear explosion, including weapons test explosions,” Clinton said.
President Clinton, Chirac and the other Western leaders were eager to boost Yeltsin’s chances in the elections and diminish the risk of a Communist comeback.
Evening news reports on Russian television showed Yeltsin being treated with respect and affection by the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations, reinforcing his campaign claim to be Russia’s best guarantor that desperately needed foreign aid will continue.
The praise lavished on Yeltsin also lent credibility to his assertion that this is no time to lose faith, because Russia has lived through the worst phase of reform and is well on the road to economic recovery.
Clinton’s support for Yeltsin through body language, endorsement of reform efforts and just being in Russia so close to the election occurs at some political risk. If Yeltsin is defeated, Clinton would be vulnerable to charges that he “lost Russia.”
Aware of his position, Clinton declined to endorse Yeltsin directly, saying “it is not right for the United States or for any other country to tell people how they should vote.”
But he said it’s no secret that he and the Russian leader have a good relationship and have worked together in reducing the nuclear threat and getting international aid for Russia.
Clinton did not say it, but had he endorsed Yeltsin directly, it might have backfired. Many Russians already regard the Russian president as subservient to Western pressure and insufficiently ardent in support of Russia’s basic interests.
Clinton, winding up an eight-day trip that also took him to South Korea and Japan, will meet Sunday with Yeltsin at the U.S. ambassador’s residence and also with key opposition figures, including Communist presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov, a 51-year-old former mathematics teacher who is far ahead of Yeltsin in Russian opinion polls.
Asked to explain his meeting with Zyuganov, Clinton said he had met with a group of political leaders the last time he was in Moscow. And Russia is a multiparty state, he noted.
The Communists and other Yeltsin critics sought to minimize his gain from the summit by denouncing an ambush in Chechnya last week in which more than 50 Russian soldiers were slain. Yeltsin has conceded that the protracted war in the tiny Islamic enclave is the issue that hurts his presidential campaign the most. The ambush made a mockery of his statements that he is actively pursuing peace.
Meantime, at the nuclear safety summit, the leaders agreed to cooperate closely to prevent nuclear materials from falling into the wrong hands and to increase safety at nuclear installations. As part of the effort to bolster Yeltsin, they downplayed the danger of nuclear accident or the theft of nuclear material at hundreds of facilities throughout Russia.
Despite criticism from nuclear safety experts that Russia’s nuclear security is in chaos, both Clinton and Chirac insisted that the situation has improved over the past year.
Russia isn’t the only country having this problem, Clinton said. “But this situation with regard to Russia is better than it was a year ago,” he said, adding that funds still are available to help the country secure its nuclear sites.
Chirac went even further. With Yeltsin smiling at his side, the French leader said, “Nobody calls into question nuclear safety in Russia.”
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