U.S. Aid to Russia Is Crucial

This week Russia formally asked for shipments of American meat, rice and other food to help get its 150 million people through what is shaping up as an especially bleak winter. Moscow does not have the money to pay for what it needs, so the Clinton administration and Congress will have to set generous terms. There’s no question that giving humanitarian help would serve U.S. interests. With its economy a shambles and its political future fraught with uncertainties, there are sound reasons to fear that Russia could backslide into the authoritarianism that was its norm for a thousand years. If timely aid can help prevent that, then timely aid is clearly worth giving.

A top aide to Boris N. Yeltsin conceded on Wednesday that the ailing president no longer is in day-to-day control of the government. Russia’s media now describe Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov as the de facto vice president, a position that constitutionally does not exist, but it’s unclear how much authority Primakov has over the so-called power ministries--defense, foreign affairs, interior and the intelligence services. The long-noted decline in Yeltsin’s cognitive abilities has accelerated. Even if he eventually is able to return to his office, his capacity to rule effectively would be questionable.

Primakov has not yet produced an economic plan that might satisfy Russia’s foreign creditors and investors. Domestically, an increasing number of Russians have been pushed backward into a barter economy, their distrust of government and their contempt for Yeltsin increasing daily. The paradox is that the Yeltsin-dictated constitution places great power in the president’s hands, but his incapacity in this time of crisis leaves the country essentially leaderless.

For all its weaknesses, nuclear-armed Russia continues to occupy a large place on the world’s political stage, a country whose co-operation with the West remains of key importance when global crises occur. U.S. humanitarian aid in this period of looming political transition could have some influence in keeping Russia’s nascent democracy from going under.