President Signs Order Giving Soviets $1 Billion in Food Aid

President Bush, moving swiftly to infuse the Soviet Union with badly needed aid, signed an executive order Saturday allowing Moscow to receive up to $1 billion in U.S. credit guarantees for American food and other agricultural goods.

The Soviet Union faces a severe food crisis this winter amid political turmoil and a collapsed food distribution system.

The President’s move was announced at the White House as he vacationed at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.

Promised by Bush on Dec. 12, the executive order set the actual paperwork in motion for the assistance already requested by the Soviets, a spokesman said. It formally lifts a 15-year-old ban on such credits and allows the Department of Agriculture to immediately begin making commodities available.

The move comes, however, after the dramatic resignation of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who had asked for the aid and stood at Bush’s side at a Rose Garden ceremony announcing the decision.

And in noting that the waiver will apply to the three Baltic republics now struggling for independence from the Soviet Union, Bush took the occasion to reiterate U.S. support for their right of self-determination.

“This in no way affects the longstanding U.S. policy of not recognizing the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union or our support for the right of the Baltic states to self-determination,” the President said in notifying Congress of his order.

In announcing the influx of aid, which also is to include giving Moscow medical supplies, expertise in food distribution and other remedies for the collapsing Soviet economy, Bush noted the unstable situation in the country and his spokesman said the prompt move will help the Soviets meet anticipated winter shortages.