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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995                   TAG: 9505110122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

FEW SMILES AT SUMMIT

After what may have been the most strained superpower summit since the end of the Cold War, President Clinton on Wednesday could claim only partial victories on the big issues that divide the United States and Russia, a result likely to fuel the growing debate in Congress over U.S. aid and relations with Moscow.

The White House trumpeted as ``real progress'' the decision by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to cancel the sale to Iran of a gas centrifuge that could be used to produce weapons-grade nuclear fuel. He also agreed that Moscow would sign documents to join the fledging Partnership for Peace at the end of the month, formalizing Russia's ties with NATO, the coalition originally created to contain the Soviet Union.

But despite Clinton's entreaties and his presentation of classified U.S. intelligence on Iran, Moscow's basic $1 billion contract to sell nuclear reactors to Tehran emerged intact, though it is to be reviewed by a joint U.S.-Russian commission. Yeltsin said his opposition to the eastward expansion of NATO remained unchanged.

And Clinton sat stonily by Yeltsin's side at a Kremlin news conference as the Russian president, when asked about Moscow's brutal crackdown on Chechen rebels, replied that there were ``no hostilities under way in Chechnya right now,'' only police forces seizing weapons ``in the possession of some small, armed criminal gangs.'' (Reports from the region said Russian forces were pounding rebel positions with artillery, rockets and attack helicopters.)

The air of celebration from Tuesday's 50th-anniversary commemorations of the end of World War II in Europe largely dissipated Wednesday as the two leaders held their seventh and most difficult summit, meeting for almost three hours with only note takers and translators present.

At the post-summit news conference, the words were mostly congratulatory - ``A win-win meeting,'' Clinton declared - but he looked tired and tense, and the two men displayed little of the jovial ``Bill-and-Boris'' familiarity that has marked their previous meetings. A top aide described the talks as ``intense, businesslike and serious'' - diplomatese for a session at which there were few smiles.

What's more, White House officials braced for challenges by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., who already have complained that Clinton isn't tough enough in his dealings with Yeltsin. Both lawmakers Sunday warned that the Republican-controlled Congress might move to cut off Russian aid, which amounts to $788 million this year, if Clinton failed to persuade Yeltsin to abandon the nuclear sale to Iran.

For his part, Yeltsin angrily dismissed the idea that congressional warnings could persuade him to change course. ``We're not afraid of threats,'' he said sternly. ``We never react to threats.''

Yeltsin did agree, however, that details of the nuclear sale would be reviewed by a commission that was established in 1993 to deal with science and technology issues. Some U.S. officials said the commission could recommend additional safeguards to meet U.S. objections that Iran might use spent nuclear fuel for bombs.

by CNB