dustrial countries and international banks to write off a big chunk of the nearly 80 billion dollar in debt it owes them, a senior Russian official said on Friday. reports Reuter.

The surprise request, which Russia has yet to make formally. could run Into opposition from some Western nations already providing billion of dollar in aid to Moscow.

"We want a large debt reduction from our creditors,' Konstantin Kagalovsky. Russia’s representative at the International Monetary Fund, told Reuters In an interview.

He said that Russia does not have the means to pay off all the debts and will be forced into an eventual default if its debt burden is not reduced.

This is money that was given to the former Soviet Union — the evil empire, as It was called at that time in the United States/ Kagalovsky said. This money was completely wasted. The communists used it to prolong their rule.

"Now it's a burden for democratic Russia."

The huge debts threaten to undermine Russia's efforts to reform Its economy, sapping the country of much-needed finance as it struggles to free itself from Communism. he said.

Russia just last week completed negotiations with its international bank creditors on a debt rescheduling agreement covering 1992 and 1993 payments.

But that pact — like a similar one struck by Russia last April with the United States and its allies — merely gave Moscow more time to pay Its debts. It did not forgive them.

Much of Russia's debts — more than 35 billion US dollar — are owed to Western and other governments. Germany is the biggest creditor and thus would suffer the most from any write-off.

There is a precedent for Russia's request for debt reduction the United States and other Western governments in the so-called Paris Club have agreed to forgive half of Poland's debts, although the country has yet to secure a similar deal from Its International bank creditors.

Russia, though, Is a far richer country than Poland, with resources of oil, gold and diamonds, and thus might face resistance from creditors to a request for debt forgiveness.

Kagalovsky played down the Importance of those resources, and instead stressed the massive problems that Russia faces after decades of communist rule — from a potential "ecological catastrophe" to a distorted eco-

nomlc structure.

There is a myth that Russia Is a country with great resources," he said. "Unfortunately, that myth has nothing to do with reality."

The Russian official declined to say now much of a debt reduction Russia would be seeking, although he did note that Poland had obtained a 50 per cent cut In It debts.

Kagalovsky said that IMF projections paint a stark picture of the situation that Russia will find itself in coming years as its foreign debts mount and payments increase.

According to the IMF, Russia’s foreign debt Is likely to climb to 91.7 billion US dollar at the end of this year and to 122.7 billion US dollar by the end o» 1999. Its annual debt service bill will rise to 39 billion US dollar in 1999 from 20.5 billion US dollar this year.

Kagalovsky said that means Russia will have to devote more than half of the money it earns from exports each year from now until 1999 to pay its annual debt service bill.

That's the case even though the IMF expects the Russian economy to stage a turnaround — growing by five per cent In 1999 with exports of 76.1 billion US dollar, double that of last year.