The Russian government has awarded two firms the right to carry out a lucrative oil-for-sugar barter deal with Cuba, but it is still ironing out financing issues with Russian banks, a senior Foreign Trade Ministry source said Thursday.


The source said Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had signed a decree giving Menatep-impeks and Alfa-ekho rights to the deal.


Both companies are related to major Russian banks.


The project, agreed in May, envisages Russia trading 3 million tons of oil for 1 million tons of Cuban raw sugar to meet expected shortfalls in the commodity late this year and in early 1996.


The source said the decree was signed Aug. 5, but that officials were waiting to formally announce the results of the tender until financing issues were resolved.


A Cuban trade source said earlier this month that under the initial terms of the agreement made May 4, the Russian tender should have been decided within 30 days of that date. But it was badly delayed.


"Very many organizations wanted to get involved with this [barter] question," said a source at the Russian Foreign Trade Ministry, adding that ministry officials were meeting with banks Thursday evening to discuss issues related to financing.


Russian trade companies were eager to be selected for the deal, deemed lucrative because of the difference in domestic and world market prices for Russian oil.


The Cuban source said earlier that the Cubans and Russians were still finishing up the small, remaining shipments of a 1994 sugar-for-oil deal, whose execution was badly delayed.


The 1994 accord was to trade one million tons of sugar for around 2.5 million tons of oil.