The surprising strength of an anti-Western faction in Russia is stirring concern here over the depth of American defense cuts.
Senior Clinton administration officials and some congressional leaders are informally examining U.S. security requirements in light of the political backlash against economic reform efforts in Russia reflected in its recent parliamentary elections.The ultranationalist party of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who wants to restore the old Soviet empire and who makes nuclear threats against other nations, continued to lead with 23.5 percent of the vote, according to the latest tally Friday.
The pro-reform bloc loyal to Russian President Boris Yeltsin trailed with 14.8 percent, and the anti-reform Communists had 13.3 percent.
The political upheaval is merely the latest crisis in the vast country of 150.4 million that has suffered through an attempted coup in 1991, dissolution of parliament in September and a bloody anti-Yeltsin rebellion by parliament hard-liners that failed in October.
U.S. officials say it will be weeks before they know how many seats are awarded to each party in the 450-seat lower house and the 178-seat upper house based on last Sunday's election.
For now, President Clinton says he has no immediate plans to change U.S. policies. "It's important at this moment not to overreact," he said Wednesday.
National Security Adviser Anthony Lake said Friday that despite developments in Russia the president "remains committed to the strategy and force structure" outlined in the military reassessment completed by the Pentagon last summer.
The mere hint of a resurgent Russian threat, however, is causing concern in both parties.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., has urged a "prompt review" of U.S. security policies "regarding nuclear weapons" and the size of America's current 1.7-million member armed forces.
Dole warned that with nationalist sentiment rising in Russia, "it's another reason that President Clinton shouldn't rush to cut the military or gut the military budget."
Some Democrats are also concerned. Although he said he was not "unduly pessimistic," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn, D-Ga., said he believes "there are warning signals here that need to be heeded."
House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said Defense Secretary-designate Bobby Ray Inman faces "a little harder assignment" in light of "a change in Russia that makes you wonder . . . whether or not the Cold War is actually going to continue to be over."
If Russians opt for a fascist-style regime offered by Zhirinovsky "it will cost us trillions of dollars to face that kind of a renewed Cold War," Gephardt warned.
Former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 1996, said the election outcome "should reinforce our concerns that we don't have any idea where this process is ultimately going to end." He added that the struggle is not over "who gets that big office in the Kremlin; it's also over who's going to control the world's largest inventory of nuclear weapons."
Clinton officials insist their review of U.S. security in the wake of Russia's elections is unlikely to alter defense cutbacks. U.S. forces are being trimmed by one third - from a Cold War peak of 2.1 million troops in 1989 to about 1.4 million by 1998.