Yeltsin Not Ready for Prime Time : G-7, meeting in Naples, should go slow in making Moscow eighth member

Should the Group of Seven, the world’s leading industrial nations, embrace Boris N. Yeltsin in a Russian bear hug as a new member? Not yet. As much as the Russian president wants his nation to become a full, card-carrying member of the elite group, it hardly qualifies as a world-class economic power.

The so-called G-7--the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Canada--account for only about 11% of the world’s population but their economies generate 70% of the world’s gross domestic product. Russia is not in their league.

Russian economic reforms still have a long way to go before the nation has a market-based economy. Back in April, the G-7 warned Moscow that the Russian government needed to make some tough economic decisions to rein in deficit spending and credit expansion.

Still, Yeltsin will be a commanding presence at the G-7 summit, which begins today in Naples, Italy. For the first time since 1991, when Russia first was represented at a G-7 meeting, Moscow will be a formal “participant”--more than a guest but not a full member.

The upgraded status, in recognition of Russia’s political role in the world, means that Yeltsin will participate in a political discussion at the final G-7 session on Sunday. In past years, a Russian leader surfaced only at the close of deliberations.

Support among the G-7 is expected to continue for Russia’s economic reforms, but not in the form of money. Last year Yeltsin left the G-7 meeting in Tokyo with pledges of $3 billion for a privatization program. Despite some progress in bringing down its horrific inflation rate, Russia’s economic woes persist.

Russia hungers for full integration into the world economic system but it lacks credentials. The notion of a Group of Eight remains premature.