[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 104 (Friday, June 23, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8990-S8991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 LET US KEEP TRYING TO WORK WITH RUSSIA

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, Vice President Gore is going to travel to 
Moscow this week to meet with Russian Prime Minister Victor 
Chernomyrdin. The meeting takes place amid a renewed challenge to 
President Yeltsin and the Prime Minister by conservative elements of 
the Russian Duma. Certainly just this morning's newspapers gives us a 
pretty clear understanding of what is happening.

[[Page S8991]]

  I want our Vice President and their Prime Minister to know that I 
support their efforts to strengthen cooperation between our two 
countries. I believe here in the United States, despite our concerns 
about issues like Chechnya, Russia's continuing efforts to establish 
democracy and an open market economy actually merit our support. I 
believe that the American people want to engage the Russians 
constructively. We want to assist them with reform. Most of all, we 
want to prevent a return to the authoritarianism of the old Soviet 
regime.
  One topic of conversation between the Vice President and the Prime 
Minister will be the future of United States aid to Russia. Some 
Senators have argued that the aid should be terminated, or at least 
substantially curtailed, and I do not agree.
  Indeed, I find that after a slow start 3 years ago, the United States 
aid program to Russia is now making a significant contribution to 
advancing political and economic reform. I would like to just lay out a 
few examples.
  The largest element of U.S. aid is to provide technical assistance to 
help the Russians privatize their state-owned enterprises. Think what 
we have here. We have people who have lived their entire lives in a 
centrally planned economy. They do not have any idea how to run a 
private enterprise. They have never had to sell their products. They 
have never had to worry about productivity. In fact, when the Berlin 
Wall fell, there probably were not more than 100 people in the Soviet 
Union who actually knew how to analyze an honest corporate profit-and-
loss statement. They also did not have stock markets, banks or the 
legal system necessary to support private enterprise. You could not 
enter a contract in Moscow and have it enforced in St. Petersburg. You 
could not enter a contract in Moscow and have it enforced in other 
parts of Moscow.
  I think it is in our national interest to help them acquire this 
know-how. Thanks in large part to our assistance, 50 percent--50 
percent--of the Russian gross domestic product now comes from the 
private sector, and with United States help the Russians are drafting a 
commercial code, setting up stock markets, and training their police to 
fight the organized crime that could so easily stifle entrepreneurship.
  I support this aid effort. I support the aid effort because I think 
that the more successful private enterprise Russia has, the more people 
are going to be resisting any attempt to reestablish Communist 
dictatorship.
  I want to assure other Senators we are simply not shoveling money out 
the door to them. In fact, many aid dollars are going to Americans. We 
are sending Americans over to show people how to run a private 
enterprise economy.
  More and more, we are leveraging our taxpayer dollars with 
contributions from the private sector. There are private enterprises 
that are interested in participating in the assistance program as a 
part of an effort to sell products. There are also lots of volunteers. 
In fact, these enterprises and volunteers allow us to multiply what we 
do.
  Another significant element is bringing Russians to the United 
States. Most of us remember the days of the Soviet Union. The 
Government prevented most Russians from seeing what life outside their 
country was like. Unless you held a special privileged position in 
academe or the government, you could not leave. Most people only had a 
vague notion of the advantage of living in an open society. I think 
that the more Russians actually visit the West, talk to Americans, see 
how we live, the more likely it is they will resist a return to 
totalitarianism.
  Some have suggested that we suspend all aid to show our objections to 
the sale of nuclear reactors to Iran, or Russian actions in Chechnya. 
Of course, I am intensely concerned about what is happening in 
Chechnya. Russian military violence against civilians has far exceeded 
accepted standards of civilized behavior, regardless of what they claim 
was the provocation by Chechen separatists. Use of landmines aimed 
primarily at the civilian population is just one of the egregious 
things they have done.
  By its actions in Chechnya over the last 6 months, the Russian 
Government shows it still has a lot to learn about democratic values 
and respect for human rights. I hope now with the current negotiations 
they are finally learning. In fact, that is why I joined with Senator 
McConnell this spring in insisting on shifting some of our proposed aid 
to Russia to provide humanitarian assistance to the Chechens as a token 
of our disapproval.
  Let us think about what we are talking about as far as aid to Russia 
is concerned. We are talking about $200-$300 million overall in aid. 
Think about what we spent in waging the cold war over the years with 
the former Soviet Union. This does not even cover the interest on what 
we used to spend. It is also a drop in the bucket compared to the 
Russian Government budget. If we cut the aid off, nobody in the central 
government in Russia is going to notice, because the amounts would not 
be that large. The people who will notice are those reformers and those 
entrepreneurs and those in the private sector in Russia who are 
pointing to the West and the United States especially as somebody who 
is helping them move to democracy. They will notice, because they are 
the ones who will find their voices not heard as well if aid is cut 
off.
  And so, Mr. President, I support the Vice President's mission to 
Moscow. I believe that promoting democratization of the second greatest 
military power in the world enhances U.S. security. I know that the 
Vice President will convey forcefully to Prime Minister Chernomyrdin 
America's concerns regarding Chechnya and the Iran reactor sale. I also 
know that he will work to strengthen dialog and cooperation between our 
two countries. And I do not know of any better way to promote world 
peace.

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