American plans to give millions to Russians

Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle News Services

MOSCOW American financier and philanthropist George Soros announced
plans Monday to donate between $300 million and $500 million for health,
civic and social programs in Russia over the next three years.

In the past several years, Soros has poured hundreds of millions of dollars
into Russia, other East European countries and nations around the world to
build democratic institutions and support educational programs. His new
plans for Russia emphasize services to the population that the government
of President Boris Yeltsin and local authorities are unable to provide.

His announcement came on the heels of a highprofile, $1 billion pledge to
the United Nations by U.S. television magnate Ted Turner. With the huge
amounts, the pair seem to be setting a pace for a scale of international
giving that once came principally from governments. The United States
provided less than $100 million in aid to Russia last year.

Soros's new plans in Russia will deepen his already complex relationship
with the country.

Soros's activities here are not only philanthropic but also moneymaking.
At a Moscow news conference Monday, many more questions were asked about
his business activities than his donations.

Soros said he has invested $2 billion in Russia, but he predicted that the
return on his investments will never match what he'll donate.

"I have a political objective, which is to help foster an open society, and
I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of," Soros said.

Soros listed seven targets for his new donations: health care, particularly
for mothers and newborns, and to fight tuberculosis and
antibioticresistant diseases; education, to shore up mathematics and
science teaching and to liberalize instruction in other courses; cultural
institutions; books and periodicals for libraries; extension of Internet
services to schools, hospitals, museums and libraries; law courses at
universities and legal training for local government officials; job
training for former military officers and management courses for business
people. He pledged to preserve the Russian projects he has already started,
which include support for scientific instruction, newspapers and human rights.

Soros made waves in Russia this year when he joined a consortium to
purchase a 25 percent stake in the staterun Syazinvest telecommunications
company. The bidding pitted Russian bankers against one another, and the
losers roundly complained, often through newspapers and television networks
they control. The row split the ranks of the bankers who, in last year's
presidential election, supported Yeltsin with money and positive coverage
in their media subsidiaries.

The creation of powerful banks, along with the emergence of a few large
firms controlling natural resources, has placed the bulk of Russia's
economy in relatively few hands.

Soros said it is time for the new Russian oligarchy to play by open rules.
"I think the consolidation of the oligarchy into legitimate capitalist
entities would be a positive step. ... They must make the transition from
acting as robber capitalists to acting as legitimate capitalists," he said.