U.S. Pledges $1.8 Billion More in Aid to Russia : Finance: Congress will be asked to double funding. Group of Seven announces $43.4-billion package to boost Yeltsin.

TOKYO —  The Clinton Administration announced today that it wants to double the level of U.S. aid to Russia and said it is asking Congress for an immediate $1.8 billion increase on top of the current $1.6 billion contribution.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher unveiled the proposed new aid plan at a meeting here of the world’s seven biggest industrial powers, which concluded today by announcing a multinational aid package for Russia of $43.4 billion--about what had been expected.

U.S. officials said they hope the announcement of a major increase in American aid will provide a boost for Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin, who is fighting for his political life in a referendum 10 days from now.

“This . . . is in no way a program of charity,” Christopher said in a statement prepared for delivery at the end of the two-day meeting of the Group of Seven--the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Canada.

“Should the forces of reform led by President Yeltsin be thwarted, we would face increased instability, the loss of large potential markets for our businesses and the necessity to continue to invest dollars in defense.”

Other U.S. officials said they hope the announcement of a new American aid commitment will prompt matching increases from the other countries. But aside from Japan’s offer of $1.8 billion, mostly in loans, there was little new direct aid offered to Moscow at the conference.

The new U.S. aid proposal of $1.8 billion, by contrast, will include more outright gifts than loans, Christopher said. If Congress approves the idea, it would bring total direct American aid for Russia this year to $3.4 billion.

Winning approval for the aid, however, will pose a major challenge for President Clinton. Officials said Clinton hopes to persuade Congress to provide the money in a special supplemental appropriation in this year’s budget. That means asking Congress to increase the government’s overall spending level, a politically unpalatable idea.

But even the President’s Democratic allies have warned him that would be a difficult--perhaps impossible--task. As a result, some Administration officials have acknowledged that the new aid request may not be approved until the next budget year, which begins Oct. 1.

But by announcing the plan today, Clinton and his aides clearly hoped to maximize the impact in Russia as the referendum approaches. One official said Christopher is considering ways to help publicize the aid plan within Russia, including a possible television interview via satellite with Moscow.

The new aid proposal targets areas Yeltsin described as especially important during his meetings with Clinton in Vancouver, Canada, earlier this month, a senior official said.

Those areas include housing for demobilized Russian military officers, which Yeltsin stressed repeatedly at Vancouver, one official said. The Administration’s initial aid plan called for initial projects to build 450 single-family homes for officers, but the official said, “We want to go way beyond that . . . into the thousands.’

Other key areas include oil and gas production, nuclear power plant safety, environmental protection, development of private businesses, people-to-people exchanges, medical assistance and trade and investment, he said. But the amounts to be devoted to each priority have not yet been determined, he said.

U.S. officials said they are pleased with the multinational package of $43.4 billion, most of whose components had already been announced.

Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen said the program was “tailored to help Russia succeed in one of the greatest political and economic challenges in history: creating a democracy and a vibrant market economy.”

“It will take many years, so we must get started quickly,” he said in his statement prepared for delivery at the conclusion of the meeting.

At the heart of the $43.4 billion program is an effort to reinforce, largely with loans from international institutions, Yeltsin’s effort to convert his nation’s economy from a state-run, Communist operation to one of private enterprise dictated by supply and demand.

The international program, which senior U.S. officials said would have minimal impact on the U.S. budget, includes:

* $4.1 billion, including $1.1 billion in World Bank loans to help pay for critical imports and $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund, which would be disbursed in two equal portions as efforts are made to get the Russian Central Bank to rein in dangerously high inflation that in March dropped from a monthly rate of 30% to 17%.

* $10.1 billion in economic stabilization funds, including a continuation of last year’s $6-billion fund to stabilize the Russian ruble.

* $14.2 billion in loans, including $10 billion in export credits from various agencies and $300 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and $3.9 billion in World Bank loans to help develop private agriculture and energy production in Russia.

The U.S. officials emphasized that the latter could provide a boost to a depressed U.S. energy equipment industry by providing funding for new markets for its products, while at the same time helping the Russians to develop an oil and gas industry that would quickly earn payments in dollars and other forms of “hard” currency needed to purchase other Western goods.

* $15 billion in previously announced rescheduling of Russia’s stifling $80-billion foreign debt.

The senior U.S. officials stressed that the success of much of the effort hinges on the willingness of the Central Bank to take difficult measures to reduce inflation, primarily by halting the flow of rubles to costly, inefficient enterprises.

Officials negotiated virtually overnight to get the package ready and avert what could have been an embarrassing outcome--a long-planned multinational aid package with many of the details still to be worked out.

U.S. officials were clearly disappointed, however, that the offers of new direct aid from other countries were so limited.

Even the Japanese package of $1.8 billion, on close examination, turned out to be “less than meets the eye,” one official said.

None of the other Group of Seven nations immediately endorsed a U.S. proposal for a $4-billion “privatization fund” to help convert huge state-owned Russian industries to private businesses, they noted.

And several countries--including wealthy but recession-pressed Germany--openly turned aside the U.S. request for more money.

U.S. officials had hoped this week’s meeting would produce a list of aid commitments from all the countries in the Group of Seven, but three--Germany, France and Italy--have not pledged yet.

Times staff writer Sam Jameson contributed to this report.