CLINTON, MITTERRAND AGREE RUSSIAN AID A TOP PRIORITY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993                   TAG: 9303100137
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
CLINTON, MITTERRAND AGREE RUSSIAN AID A TOP PRIORITY
President Clinton said Tuesday he will try to mobilize swift Western help for Russia in an effort to keep its endangered political and economic reforms on track. He said the crisis cannot wait until a seven-nation summit in July.
Adding his support for a proposed emergency meeting of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, Clinton said it was "important for us to try to move aggressively to give the Russians the means to restore some economic growth and opportunity and preserve political liberty."
French President Francois Mitterrand, joining Clinton at a press conference after an introductory meeting, voiced his own support for an emergency G-7 summit.
"There are problems, specifically in Eastern Europe and in Russia, that are urgent," Mitterrand said.
Former President Nixon, who met Monday evening with Clinton to discuss Russia, met separately Tuesday with Republican and Democratic senators to urge more U.S. aid to Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. Congressional sources said Nixon made the trip to Capitol Hill because Clinton asked him to make a special appeal to GOP senators.
In a brief corridor interview, Nixon said he believes U.S. aid can decide "whether political and economic freedom survive" in Russia and the other former Soviet republics.
The idea of an early G-7 summit has drawn opposition from Tokyo, host for the next scheduled annual meeting of the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Tokyo does not want anything to steal the thunder from its July summit, and it also has a longstanding territorial dispute with Russia over four islands.
"The important point I'd like to make is I don't believe we can wait until July for the major countries of the world who care about what happens in Russia and who would like very much to keep political and economic reform on track there, to move," Clinton said.
Still, Clinton left open the possibility that aid for Russia could be dealt with at a lower level, such as finance or foreign ministers. G-7 finance ministers and central bank presidents are to meet in Washington in late April, and Russia's struggle is expected to head their agenda.
White House communications director George Stephanopoulos said a heads-of-state meeting was possible but was not the only way the issue could be dealt with.
Clinton and Mitterrand held talks in the Oval Office and met again over lunch.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB