Gore, Visiting Russia, Assails Radical Leader

Vice President Al Gore harshly condemned Russian nationalist leader Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky on Wednesday, calling his views “reprehensible” and an “anathema,” while President Clinton sought to reassure Americans that many Russians who voted for Zhirinovsky’s party do not necessarily share his positions.

The statements from Gore in Moscow and Clinton in Washington illustrated the twin aspects of U.S. policy in the wake of Sunday’s Russian election: an attempt to isolate Zhirinovsky while seeking to bolster support at home for continued aid to Russia by insisting that the elections do not represent a sudden lurch toward militant nationalism by the Russian people.

With votes still being counted, it was unclear whether Zhirinovsky’s forces and two Communist parties--the most extreme foes of economic reform--will get an outright majority in the Duma, the more powerful, lower house of the new Parliament.

Unofficial projections by Russia’s Interfax news agency and separate projections by U.S. officials indicate that reformers will have the largest single bloc in the 450-seat Duma--winning about one-third of the seats. But the reform bloc could easily be outnumbered by an anti-reform coalition of the nationalists and Communists if the two decide to team up in an alliance of left and right against the center.

Gore’s comments came after an hourlong meeting with Yeltsin in an interview with reporters, during which the vice president delivered a broadside against Zhirinovsky in remarkably undiplomatic language.

“Let me say clearly for myself and on behalf of the Administration and on behalf of our country, the views expressed by Zhirinovsky on issues such as the use of nuclear weapons, the expansion of borders and the treatment of ethnic minorities are reprehensible and anathema to all freedom-loving people in Russia, in the United States and everywhere in the world,” Gore said.

Zhirinovsky’s policies would lead to fighting and bloodshed on the scale of that seen in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Gore said. Zhirinovsky has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Germany and Japan, advocates the return of all former Soviet states to Russian control and preaches Slavic ethnic superiority.

Clinton echoed the criticism of Zhirinovsky in a White House news conference, saying: “I think no American, indeed, no citizen of the world who read such comments could fail to be concerned.”

But Clinton devoted most of his remarks to the other side of the message.

“I think it’s important to recognize that we don’t have any evidence at this time that the people who voted for that party were embracing all those comments or, indeed, may have even known about them,” he said. “I believe this was clearly a protest vote fueled by people who have been in--many of them--in virtual economic free fall.

“I think it’s important at this moment not to overreact,” Clinton said. “Do I think that this means there will be a big new dangerous direction in Russian policy? I don’t think there’s any evidence to support that.”

The election means that the United States and its allies should “redouble our efforts to support the process of reform in Russia in a way that the ordinary citizens can understand will be to their benefit,” Clinton said.

But officials made clear that such support will have to be accomplished without a big infusion of new money.

Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown, in Moscow for talks with Russian officials on investment opportunities and the conversion of defense industries to peaceful uses, said that Washington is searching for as many as a dozen projects it can put together quickly to help Yeltsin show that his policies are working.

“When you have an election like this, where ultra-rightists did better than anybody wanted, it’s naturally a time of reflection,” Brown said in an interview. “I think both sides think it’s terribly important to show some movement, have some successes and create a comfort level for potential foreign investors.”

Gore’s visit to Moscow had been planned initially as a mission of congratulation to Yeltsin on the approval of a new constitution and the election of a reform-minded Parliament. Instead, Gore found himself in a damage-control effort, attacking Zhirinovsky while chiding Yeltsin for conducting an inept campaign.

At the White House, senior government officials openly referred to Zhirinovsky and his bloc as “fascists” as they tried to stamp out any suggestion that the United States now will shift its policy to take account of what they concede was an unexpectedly strong showing by Zhirinovsky’s party.

“We are not hopelessly naive,” said a senior official, defending the Administration’s decision to continue basing its policy on Russia’s reformers. “But we’re not going to sit on the fence or hedge our bets and put some of our money on the fascists and some on the Communists.

“We do not intend to engage in any sort of reassessment” of U.S. policy, the official added. “We think this is going to be a decades-long process. We’ve said that for a year now. We don’t think it’s wise to run or re-examine a policy at the first sign of trouble.”

Gore, assuming a more prominent role as foreign policy spokesman for the Clinton Administration, said that he will not meet with Zhirinovsky during the remainder of his stay here and that he “assumed” Clinton will not see the opposition leader when the President comes to Moscow in January.

American officials privately blamed Yeltsin in scathing terms for botching the campaign. Gore said that Yeltsin and his backers are justifiably embarrassed by their shoddy political performance.

“On the whole, for two years the democratic forces will be able to block the most undemocratic decisions, but it will be impossible or next to impossible to push forward democratic reforms,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei M. Shakhrai told a news conference.

Gore said Yeltsin had conceded to him that he will have to form a coalition with groups with whom he has sometimes been at odds. Putting on a brave face in his meeting with Gore, Yeltsin told the vice president that “there is almost certainly going to be strong support within the Parliament for his policies,” according to Gore.

Yeltsin also reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to the independence of the 14 other former Soviet states and said that he is willing to continue discussions with Washington about security arrangements for those nations and the other countries of the former Warsaw Pact.

Gore predicted that Yeltsin will be successful in patching together a coalition from the motley elements of the new Parliament. But he also said that the election results should serve as a “wake-up call” for those--including some in Yeltsin’s government--who thought that the democratic transformation of Russia was irreversible.

Top foreign policy aides, who met in advance to map strategy for Gore’s meeting with Yeltsin, determined that the vice president should chastise Yeltsin for being out of touch with the Russian people, who have suffered greatly in the post-Soviet era.

Gore’s comments were further coordinated with Washington during an early morning telephone conversation with Clinton, who had Gore deliver a letter to Yeltsin that aides described as “friendly and supportive.”

The Russian president, in his meeting with Gore, did not admit errors either in his governance or in the conduct of the political campaign, the vice president said.

“But I have heard that from a number of people who are part of his team and a part of his group,” Gore said.

“They understand they did not do a good job of rallying the forces of democracy and transformation and did not wage an effective campaign. They understand that very clearly and are embarrassed at the impression that has been created by the results on the party list voting.

“I don’t think you’ll see the same mistakes made again,” he added.

Broder reported from Moscow and Lauter from Washington. Times staff writer Richard Boudreaux in Moscow contributed to this report.