U.S. Aims Low on Russia Aid
The ambitious $4-billion aid package that President Clinton wanted to support Russian economic reform is “not realistic” at present, and instead the United States will try to persuade its allies to agree to give $500 million, a top U.S. official said Friday.
The U.S. Agency for International Development is ready to give Russia $125 million, and at the Tokyo economic summit next month, the United States will ask the other members of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations for the other $375 million, said the agency head, J. Brian Atwood.
On Wednesday, Clinton Administration officials conceded that the $4 billion is unattainable now. On Friday, Atwood conveyed the bad news directly to the Russians.
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