THE UNITED States and the Russian Federation, while expressing pious hopes that the Helsinki summit will draw them together, appeared in reality to be drawing further apart on the issue of NATO's eastward expansion as President Yeltsin and President Clinton prepared for their meeting today.
Mr Yeltsin, in robust form, turned the tables on his US counterpart before the summit began by sending a "get well message" to President Clinton, thus reversing the general direction of such missives in the recent past.
With his new government in the course of formation Mr Yeltsin appears to have gone into fully active mode. As part of this he has stressed his country's right to take a "negative stance" on NATO expansion.
On the American side the new Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, has also been in tough mood. The US, she told reporters at a Washington briefing, was not prepared to "bargain away central Europe" and while Russia deserved a voice on European security, it did not deserve a veto.
Expansion would go ahead, she said, with or without Russian approval, and she felt the US and other western countries were under no pressure to reach a formal accord with Russia.
Ms Albright rejected suggestions that her extremely tough stance was an initial bargaining position.
Russia on the other hand wants a binding agreement with NATO on its eastward move, while the US has in the past been prepared to offer a deal which would be "binding politically but not legally".
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Yevgeny Primakov, a former head of the KGB, was in Washington yesterday for a meeting with President Clinton. He left the White House saying: "Russia will not change its stance on NATO."
In Moscow yesterday Mr Yeltsin called for concessions from the US, saying that his side had conceded enough on the NATO issue and the ball was now in Washington's court.
Mr Clinton is due to arrive in Finland at noon (local time) today and will meet the Finnish President, Mr Martti Ahtisaari, this afternoon. Mr Yeltsin will arrive at 1.45 p.m. local time. The summit will begin with a formal lunch hosted by Mr Ahtisaari for the two presidents and their entourages.
The serious business of talks begins tomorrow at the Finnish president's official residence at Maentyniemi, outside Helsinki. Following the traditional joint press conference at the Hotel Kalastaiaatorppa, Mr Clinton will leave Helsinki at 11 p.m. local time.
Mr Yeltsin will stay in Finland on Saturday for bilateral talks with Mr Ahtisaari, leaving lord Moscow in the afternoon.
Speaking before he left Washington, Mr Clinton expressed hopes for progress at the summit saying: "We have never had a meeting that did not result in constructive progress in relations between the US and Russia in matters of mutual interest. I believe this will be such a meeting."
The Guardian Service adds: Parodying the maxim that what is good for General Motors is good for America, Mr Alexei Arbatov, a leading pro western disarmament expert, summarised the dominant view in Moscow: "What is good for America is not necessarily profitable for Russia. Concessions in the future must be done not out of friendship or abstract principles, but as mutual trade off.
"Does America represent an enemy for Russia? The question is debatable. But we are clearly not allies, and will not be for the foreseeable future."