Need for Massive Aid to Republics Cited : Commonwealth: U.S. coordinator says the current airlift is hardly adequate. But no new help is promised.

Although hardship in the former Soviet Union is in no way comparable to the hunger in Third World countries, the situation “could deteriorate” and humanitarian aid must continue on a massive scale to prevent destabilization, the official heading an American relief effort said on Friday.

Richard L. Armitage, special coordinator of U.S. aid to the Commonwealth of Independent States, told a news conference that the current two-week airlift of 4.5 million pounds of American food and medicine “is certainly insufficient to the task at hand.”

But he made no promises of new aid beyond the program already proposed by President Bush.

He shrugged off criticism that the United States was a stingy latecomer to the international relief effort under way.

Armitage said it “would not be fair” to say that people are starving in the newly independent states, but added without elaboration that there are “spot extreme conditions.”

“If you compared the situation here to a Bangladesh or . . . Somalia or Ethiopia, it’s not the same thing,” he said. But “overall, the picture is one that, in toto, over time, could deteriorate and could deteriorate to everyone’s dis-benefit.”

In Moscow, for example, while more food is available than a month ago, ordinary consumers find the prices--triple what they used to be--excessive. The central market is full of vendors offering fresh produce and meat, but only foreigners and the wealthy stop to buy.

But it is important to focus beyond sporadic food or medicine shortages in the Commonwealth, Armitage explained, and look instead at the deeper underlying problems of restructuring the collapsed Communist system. “If the hemorrhage is not stemmed,” he cautioned, “over time, there could be destabilization.

“What startles you is the enormity of the task at hand,” Armitage said, referring to the “tremendous changes trying to be wrought” in the Commonwealth republics. “Over a long period of time, just the provision of aid itself is not going to be sufficient,” he said.

The American airlift, which began on Monday, consists of medicine and military rations left over from the Gulf War. The portions of dehydrated pork chops and other food came mostly in industrial-sized servings expected to last for about a month at soup kitchens, orphanages and other institutions. “Please don’t look at this as if it’s table scraps,” Armitage urged when a reporter asked him about “old Army food.”

Although the United States lags far behind the European Community in humanitarian aid to the Commonwealth--in terms of both the amount and the timing--Armitage nonetheless described this week’s highly publicized airlift as a “jump-start” for the international relief effort.

He said the “dramatic airlift” had an immeasurable effect on “spirit and morale,” but acknowledged that the United States would use more cost-effective sea and rail transport for the rest of its aid.

“It’s very clear that many regions heretofore had not received assistance,” Armitage said, noting that the U.S. cargo planes landing in the 11 republics are reaching areas ignored by other donors.

Armitage said there had been no reports so far of any of the U.S. aid being stolen.

Asked how much aid the Commonwealth needs, Armitage said it would be impossible to name an amount or a dollar figure.

Meantime, Sandra Laumark, an American representative of CARE, said the relief organization plans to open its first office in Russia on Monday but will be focusing more on technical assistance than the traditional food packages. So far, she said, the plight of the former Soviet people does not appear to be tugging at the heartstrings of the average American donor.

“Up until now, there’s been no groundswell of private $25-type donors wanting to do something in Russia, and no government funds” either, Laumark said.

CARE plans to use funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Office of Disaster Assistance to support its new operation, Laumark said. As for private donors sending CARE packages, “at this time, our reading is that people are certainly aware of the situation but there’s not an interest,” she said.

She blamed U.S. economic woes for the apathy. “I live near New York,” she said. “I know a lot of people losing their jobs, watching their houses depreciate, or they can’t afford to send their kids to college. . . . (Americans) are very concerned about their own economic situation.”