Russia Gets 1st 1999 Shipload of U.S. Food Aid

Cranes hoisted the year’s first American food aid to Russia onto a wharf in St. Petersburg on Friday after months of delays caused by U.S. concerns that the aid would be stolen or misused.

Last fall, officials said the food would help Russia’s poor through the winter months, but it arrived with spring only a week away. The aid will instead stabilize the market and make food more affordable, U.S. officials said.

“It’s not a matter of helping through the winter. It’s helping through the agriculture year, from harvest to harvest,” said U.S. Ambassador James Collins at the port.

The United States offered $950 million worth of agricultural products after a financial crisis last year left Russia’s economy in tatters and a drought ruined the harvest.

Slushy snow fell Friday as dock crews unloaded the cargo of 2,000 tons of pea seeds for Russian farmers.

Most of the 3.1 million tons of aid coming later is grain, not seeds.

“They go directly to the north Caucasus and will get into Russian earth immediately,” Vladimir Alginin, deputy agriculture minister, said with a smile.

Talks on the aid had stalled over U.S. concerns for safety of the shipments in Russia, where past aid has been resold on the black market.

This year, U.S. officials will accompany the aid.