2 U.S.-Russian Nuclear Pacts Said to Be Near

Russia and the United States expect to finalize two nuclear security agreements this week that will pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the Russian treasury and ease tensions over Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran, according to officials of both countries.

The deals are scheduled to be completed during a crucial visit to Washington by Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, who is coming primarily in hopes of persuading the International Monetary Fund to grant new loans to shore up Russia’s crippled economy but will also take up security and foreign policy issues.

Primakov is nominally coming to Washington in his capacity as Russian co-chairman of the binational commission formerly known as Gore-Chernomyrdin, after its creators, Vice President Al Gore and former Russian Prime Minster Viktor S. Chernomyrdin. But because of the prolonged illness of President Boris N. Yeltsin, Primakov is the day-to-day leader of Russia, grappling with its political paralysis and economic free-fall.

One agreement to be signed during the meeting this week provides for Russia to receive more than $300 million from the United States in payment for uranium removed from Russian nuclear weapons and for Russia to gain immediate access to the worldwide commercial uranium market for future sales of similar material. The United States will agree to hold its purchased uranium off the market for 10 years, shoring up the price in a further economic boon to Russia.

In the second deal, senior administration officials said, Washington is prepared to accept a proposal by Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov to restrict the cooperation of two Russian scientific institutes with Iran’s nuclear program, in exchange for a lifting of U.S. sanctions on the two institutes.