RUSSIAN ELECTION, MIDEAST INHIBIT NUCLEAR SUMMIT.

Byline: Inga Saffron Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

President Clinton came to an international summit here Saturday to talk about the nuclear dangers in Russia but instead spent much of his time trying not to take sides in the coming Russian presidential elections.

The special gathering of world leaders to mark the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster was so overshadowed by Russian politics, and by the upsurge in Middle East tensions, that it made only minimal progress in reducing the threat from nuclear terrorism, accidents and ocean dumping.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin was responsible for the most significant accomplishment of the two-day event.

He promised to sign a treaty banning testing of nuclear weapons and to urge China, the last holdout, to do the same. The leader of Ukraine also confirmed an earlier commitment to shut down the two remaining reactors at Chernobyl, site of the worst nuclear accident in history.

The visiting heads of state also signed agreements to improve nuclear protection and fight smuggling of nuclear material.

``Today we took another step back from the nuclear precipice,'' said Clinton in a news conference at the summit's conclusion.

But because Yeltsin is fighting for his political life - and for Russia's economic reforms - in a tough re-election campaign against a strong Communist Party rival, Clinton and the leaders of six of the world's richest nations were reluctant to push for more substantive concessions.

The most striking lapse was on the issue of selling nuclear technology to Iran. At a post-summit news conference, Yeltsin breezily remarked that none of the visiting leaders had protested Russia's decision to go ahead with the sale.

Only a year ago, at another summit meeting in Moscow, Clinton had argued strenuously that the plant would give Iran the technology to build a nuclear bomb.

Requests for greater access to Russian nuclear weapons plants, and a better inventory of nuclear materials, for instance, were quietly dropped to avoid giving the appearance of dictating terms to Yeltsin.

While the recent attack on Lebanon by Israel was discussed at length by the visiting leaders, no mention was made during the summit meeting of Russia's own heavy bombing campaign in Chechnya. Fighting in the breakaway southern province has intensified in recent weeks, despite Yeltsin's announcement of a unilateral cease-fire.

``We had low expectations from this summit, but the results didn't even meet expectations,'' said Robert K. Watson, a research associate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group that set up its own media center at the summit. ``I think political concerns about Yeltsin remaining in power became paramount,'' he added.

While Russian political concerns clearly influenced the summit's final declaration, Clinton took pains during the event to insist that he was completely neutral.

``It is not right for the United States or for any other country to tell people how they should vote. That's what democracy is about,'' Clinton insisted in response to repeated questions about his preferences at his own post-summit news conference.

He emphasized that Russia and the United States had an obligation to cooperate and remain allies, no matter who wins the presidential contest.

He also noted that he will meet Sunday with Yeltsin's main political rivals in a group session at the American Embassy. But even late Saturday, it was not completely clear whether the most important of the guests, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, would attend.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1)World leaders gather at a Moscow summit on the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

(2) Dan Terullo advises President Clinton before a meeting Saturday.

Associated Press