Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990 TAG: 9007190208
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PARIS LENGTH: Medium
A senior U.S. official said that includes technical assistance, banking and tax-administration techniques and housing construction advice.
Baker made the offer in a meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze at the U.S. ambassador's residence.
The official, who insisted on anonymity, disclosed the U.S. offer on Baker's flight home.
President Bush has ruled out direct U.S. assistance to the shaky Soviet economy unless three conditions are met.
These are the adoption of free-market procedures, a decrease in spending on the Soviet military and less involvement with countries accused of promoting regional unrest, such as Cuba.
On another subject, a government spokesman reacted strongly Wednesday to Bush administration plans to open a dialogue with Communist Party opponents, telling U.S. officials not to offer opponents "encouragement or assistance."
The warning came amid new defections from the ruling party: Seven prominent Soviet parliamentarians announced that they were following the lead of reformers such as Boris Yeltsin, who quit the party last week.
And editor Vitaly Korotich of the glasnost weekly Ogonyok said his newspaper will announce today it is severing ties with the Communist Party, which publishes the magazine.
Baker said Monday he thought it would be appropriate for the Bush administration to "touch base" with the Soviet opposition as it has with the opposition in other countries in Eastern Europe.
According to a spokesman, Shevardnadze responded favorably to Baker's proposal.
"He had no problem with that," the official said of Shevardnadze's reaction.
Organizations in the United States have given millions of dollars to the cause of the non-Communist opposition movement in Poland.
Although it is not clear yet whether such assistance would be given to opposition groups in the Soviet Union, Arkady Maslennikov, a spokesman for Gorbachev, clearly drew the line at aid.
"I think the limit is if you meet people and discuss whatever matters you wish, that is your business," Maslennikov said at a briefing.
by CNB