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Russia taking U.S. money and running

The United States and various international organizations, mostly supported by U.S. taxpayer funds, have poured billions of dollars into Russia in an effort to support democratization and development of free markets.

Unfortunately, Russian President Bris Yeltsin happily has taken the money without actually instituting the broad, difficult reforms that would help Russia truly to join the rest of the world. Instead, Yeltsin has installed a series of former KGB officials as heads of government, and Russia has become downright troublesome in foreign affairs.

Last week yet another KGB apparatchik ascended to the job of Russian prime minister. Vladimir Putin's appointment by Yelstin was rubber-stamped by the Russian parliament. In his acceptance remarks Putin gave little comfort to those who hope Russia will not return to the imperial foreign policy of the Soviet Union: "Russia must not be shy of its interests," he said.

All of which leads one to wonder why the Yeltsin government is considered at all friendly to Western interests, or at least friendly enough to warrant billions of dollars in foreign aid.

If it had been revealed in, say, 1979 or 1983 that the U.S. government was shipping billions of dollars to Russia, where its use would be determined by the feared KGB, the responsible officials would have been tried for treason.

We would not suggest that aid to Russia is treasonous. But the KGB still exists in Russia, albeit under a different name and without the Gulag. The organization remains largely in place, and abroad it is every bit as hostile as during the dark years of the Soviet era. It does not seem at all wise for the U.S. to support, even indirectly, a government run by a KGB official. If the supposedly "new" Russia is unwilling o take the steps necessary to revive its economy and join the community of nations as a peaceful partner, then it does not deserve a penny of Western aid.

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