Bush Rejects Armenian President’s Request for Direct U.S. Aid

The president of Armenia urged President Bush on Thursday to send U.S. aid directly to the Soviet Union’s remaining republics, but Bush rejected his plea and argued for keeping the Soviet central government involved.

Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s account of his 40-minute meeting in the Oval Office indicated that Bush still wants to use U.S. aid to help maintain some central government authority in the Soviet Union, despite the rapid shift of power to the 12 remaining republics.

“Our position is that assistance from the West . . . (should be) delivered and coordinated not to any central authority but directly to a republic,” Ter-Petrosyan told reporters at the White House. “It is our firm conviction--and I explained it in detail to President Bush--that the assistance that has been given by the West to the Soviet Union in the past has been used by the central authority for its own political objectives.

“President Bush is in favor of balancing the assistance between the center and the republics,” he added, describing Bush’s response to his plea.

A White House official confirmed that Bush told Ter-Petrosyan that he wants to deliver aid through some kind of central body that would both encourage economic coordination and respect the increasing independence of the country’s 12 republics. “Just don’t ask how that works in practice, because we don’t know yet,” the official said.

The Administration has been working on a relatively modest package of humanitarian and technical aid for more than two months, but the program has been delayed in part because of uncertainty over how to channel the aid.

Officials said that the package, which will consist largely of credits to allow the Soviet Union to buy U.S. grain and other agricultural goods, may be unveiled next week.

Bush’s measured welcome to Ter-Petrosyan reflected the gingerly approach he and his aides have been taking toward the Soviet republics. Bush has declared his intent to support the moves of Russia, Armenia and other republics toward democracy and free-market economies. But he has urged them to remain linked in some kind of union--and, more controversially, has offered vocal support for Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“We are very interested in the success of the (Armenian) republic,” Bush told reporters.

He told the visiting Armenians officially that the United States plans to open a consulate and launch a Peace Corps mission in their capital, Yerevan.

But Armenian officials noted that, while their meeting with Bush was a step forward from last year, when the President refused to see Ter-Petrosyan, they are still far short of receiving formal recognition as an independent state.