ABSTRACT
Although Presidents Clinton and Mitterand, and former President Nixon agree on the importance of foreign assistance to Russia, neither they nor other advocates have been specific about how much or what types of aid are appropriate. Moreover, Western aid to Russia has elicited reactions in Ukraine that are even more unfavorable than those in Russia itself. While Russians view Western aid to date as niggardly, Ukrainians view it invidiously because of what they see as the total neglect of Ukraine's own needs and interests. The United States already has a modest program to encourage foreign investment in Russia and Ukraine by providing subsidized insurance against investors' exposure to political risks of expropriation or violence. Economic reform and political transformation in Russia and Ukraine inevitably involve military issues, like arms sales and weapons dismantling, because of the distorted gigantism of the military sectors inherited from the Soviet economy.
