Yeltsin Moves to Rule by Decree : U.S. reaction: Clinton Administration swiftly signals support for Yeltsin and his free-market reforms. White House aides proceed with assistance package.

Reacting quickly and firmly, the Clinton Administration signaled support for Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin’s declaration of “special rule” Saturday, saying the country’s “only democratically elected national leader” is “letting the Russian people decide their future.”

The unusually strong message of support was made public in a brief presidential statement read at the White House. It was conveyed directly to Yeltsin in a cable from President Clinton and to allied leaders in a message from Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos said the Administration will proceed with its work on an economic aid package for the embattled Russian republic. Clinton, he said, “looks forward to his summit meeting with President Yeltsin in Vancouver on April 3 and 4.”

The Administration’s message was clearly designed as much for Russian consumption as for American, with officials here hoping it will help Yeltsin in an almost certain confrontation with opponents. “The issue can’t go away now,” said Marshall Goldman of Harvard University’s Russian Research Center. “You have people having staked out positions. . . . It has to be a confrontation.”

Clinton’s statement, read to reporters about three hours after Yeltsin’s speech, said, “The United States supports the historic movement toward democracy and free markets in Russia. Russian President Boris Yeltsin is the leader of that process.”

Administration officials have acknowledged the potential risk in backing Yeltsin if the Russian president fails to carry the day, or if he later decides on some military action to back up his rule. But they judged those risks to be less than the consequences of watching Yeltsin’s power and his drive for reform be nibbled away by the Congress of People’s Deputies.

In his statement, Clinton noted with approval that Yeltsin had promised that civil liberties will be respected during the period of rule by decree.

“We will continue to work in concert with our allies to support those in Russia who wish to further reform,” Clinton said. “What matters most is that Russia is and must remain a democratic country, moving toward a market economy. That is the basis for a continued U.S.-Russian partnership and for a better and more prosperous future for the American people.”

Administration officials emphasized, as they have throughout the Russian power struggle, that their policy is to support Yeltsin because and only because he is pursuing democracy, implying that if his rule diverged from that course, the United States would reconsider its support.

Last week, for example, Christopher, when asked by reporters whether the Administration was centering its policy excessively on one man, responded with evident irritation.

“No, . . . our main lodestars are democracy and free-market reforms,” Christopher said. “We are supporting him because he is a very strong advocate of those two principles that we believe in.”

Christopher has openly expressed contempt for the Russian Congress as “relics” of the Communist era and “pretenders” at democracy.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate foreign operations subcommittee, said Saturday that the Administration has little alternative to supporting Yeltsin because he is the only realistic hope for democracy. “This is the only game (Clinton) has,” Leahy said in an interview on CNN.

Dimitri Simes, chairman of the Carnegie Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, said the United States must walk a fine line in the dispute. “We should not give Boris Yeltsin the impression, we should not give the Russian people the impression we are taking part in their domestic struggle,” he said.

Just last Tuesday, Clinton received Valery D. Zorkin, chairman of Russia’s Constitutional Court. After the Clinton-Zorkin meeting, Christopher pointed to it as part of an Administration effort to reach out to Yeltsin’s critics. Zorkin, however, immediately denounced Yeltsin’s action Saturday as an attempted coup.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was informed of Yeltsin’s move before it was disclosed in a speech televised in Russia and the United States. But Stephanopoulos said there had been no “consultation” between the two governments.

Clinton learned of the escalation in the Moscow confrontation from National Security Adviser Anthony Lake. He spent much of the afternoon in talks with Lake and Samuel (Sandy) Berger, his deputy national security adviser; Strobe Talbot, the U.S. ambassador to the former Soviet republics; Madeleine Albright, ambassador to the United Nations, and congressional leaders.

Although Yeltsin did not go so far as to dissolve Congress on Saturday, some Administration officials had earlier indicated that they would be sympathetic if Yeltsin did take such a drastic measure.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters just three days ago, Christopher used language strikingly similar to the formal statement issued by the White House on Saturday.

“For the time being, Mr. Yeltsin is certainly the principal exponent of democracy and free markets,” Christopher said. “He is the elected leader of that country and the best proponent of those points of view and it is rather appropriate that President Clinton is supporting him.”

For his part, Yeltsin had in recent days assured Washington through Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev that his objective was to use democratic means to find his way out of the impasse between himself and Old Guard opposition in the Congress.

His move to rule by decree until an April 25 referendum came after Congress thwarted his effort to call a referendum that would resolve the dispute over the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of the government.

Times staff writer Doyle McManus contributed to this story.