Clinton Messages His Support for Yeltsin

Taking an unusual step into the center of Russia’s internal political battle, President Clinton sent a strong public message of support Thursday to Boris N. Yeltsin and indicated that he will back the Russian president even if he follows through on a threat to dissolve his Parliament.

“He is the duly elected president of Russia and a genuine democrat,” Clinton said of Yeltsin. “I intend to do what I can . . . to be supportive of him as long as he serves as president of Russia.”

Yeltsin warned Western governments last week that he may dissolve the opposition-led Congress of People’s Deputies to save his reform program, officials said. Clinton’s statement and similar statements by Secretary of State Warren Christopher were intended as a public signal to both Yeltsin and his opponents that the United States will stand by the Russian president, even if he takes the unconstitutional action, one official said.

The Administration would prefer to see Yeltsin work out an amicable compromise with the Congress, a senior State Department official said.

But if no compromise is possible, “we’re looking for a democratic and reformist outcome . . . one that leaves Yeltsin intact,” he said.

The Congress, which is trying to strip Yeltsin of his powers, is also the main obstacle to economic reform and was elected under old, undemocratic Soviet rules, officials noted.

Thus, if Yeltsin decided that the only way to move forward with political and economic reforms was to dissolve the Parliament and rule temporarily by decree, the United States would be sympathetic, they said.

The officials noted that while the Russian Congress voted Thursday in favor of a law that would strip Yeltsin of much of his power, the vote was only preliminary and a compromise is still possible. Nevertheless, the perception that Yeltsin might be facing a make-or-break crisis prompted an unusual show of partisan support from the Administration.

“We think that he is the strongest proponent of democracy and free markets,” Christopher said. “We will continue to support him, and we are following these events hoping that the outcome strengthens his position.”

Later in the day, Christopher added: “We are acting to try to help the president (Yeltsin) maintain his situation. We have agreed to an early summit meeting with him, as you know. The President’s actively involved in trying to find additional ways to assist him, asking the Congress for additional funds.

“So we’re doing all we can to support him, because we think that he is the best opportunity the United States and the world has for the encouragement and preservation of democracy and a free-market situation there.”

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Christopher referred to Yeltsin’s opponents as “relics of the past who still have the old habits of communism.” State Department spokesman Richard A. Boucher made a point of repeating that characterization Thursday.

And former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger told another hearing: “If Yeltsin is defeated, the hopes for reform in Russia are fundamentally defeated as well. . . . Lord knows, we must all pray he survives.”

Yeltsin’s warning to the West that he may dissolve the Parliament came in several forms, officials said, including a meeting in Moscow last week with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, messages conveyed through his aides to U.S. diplomats in Moscow and public statements.

Kohl assured Yeltsin of his full support for any tough measures he decides to take and promised to contact other Western leaders to seek their backing as well, a senior German official said in Bonn. U.S. officials said Kohl contacted Clinton almost immediately with the message. But there has been no direct communication between Clinton and Yeltsin this week, they said.

Kohl also pressed for quick Western action to increase economic aid to Russia, in part to bolster Yeltsin’s position, the officials said. Clinton, French President Francois Mitterrand and British Prime Minister John Major quickly agreed, calling for a meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations--the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada--to discuss the aid.

The Group of Seven has invited Russia to send an economic team to a meeting of middle-level officials in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Times staff writer Tyler Marshall in Bonn contributed to this report.