IBM has received preliminary approval from the Russian government for a plan that would make it the first Western manufacturer to assemble computers in Russia, according to Russian media reports.


IBM's Moscow representative, Robert Dunwell, confirmed that a deal was being negotiated but said that reports in Kommersant and the Postfactum wire service were based on leaked documents. He said any announcement now would be unofficial and premature.


"Negotiations are on-going, and this government decision is just another step", he said.


IBM has been selling computers in Russia since 1989, when an agreement was signed with President Mikhail Gorbachev opening the Russian market to the international computer giant. But the proposed joint venture with a Russian joint-stock company, Kompyutertsentr, will be the first time a Western firm has manufactured computers in Russia.


Boris Sherbakov, a Hewlett-Packard representative in Moscow, said that he knew of no reputable Western firm to have ever considered the move, calling it extremely risky.


"Lots of applause to them, if they are really going to do it", he said, adding that Hewlett-Packard customized its own computers for the Russian market and had no plans to manufacture here as long as economic uncertainty prevailed.


But a Kompyutertsentr representative, Sergei Averin, expressed optimism about the project, saying that his company was prepared to cooperate fully with IBM to create a profitable venture.


He said that his firm had a great deal of experience developing specialized programs on IBM computers -- especially for schools and educational programs -- and would be responsible for developing and marketing the locally manufactured computers to clients throughout Russia.


"We are only one part of this project, but we have long experience designing specialized programs for our clients", he said.


Averin said that the new assembly plant would probably be located in Zelenograd, a Moscow suburb that has petitioned Mayor Yury Luzhkov for status as a free-enterprise zone.


Such a zone would allow foreign firms to invest freely in a given area, and would encourage long-term development by easing many of the current restrictions on foreign firms wishing to manufacture in Russia.


Zelenograd has long been a center of electronics manufacturing and has a well-developed infrastructure that town planners say they would like to exploit with the help of Western computer firms like IBM.