Russia's larger role, however, is likely to be overshadowed by a number of other issues, including France's decision to resume nuclear testing, mounting tension in Bosnia and United States-Japan squabbling over trade.
Moscow has played a limited role in meetings of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- since Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev took part in London in 1991.
However, this time Yeltsin will sit in on two working sessions, giving him slightly more access.
"This is already in a way a victory" for the Russians, said Michael McFaul, an analyst at the Moscow office of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. "The symbolism is very important for them."
The summit, in Halifax, Canada, had been scheduled to focus on propping up the world financial system after the Mexican financial crisis last December.
But even before the first leaders arrived for the three-day meeting, trouble was brewing on several fronts, headed by France's announcement Tuesday that it would resume nuclear weapons testing, which provoked a storm of criticism.
In Bosnia, tensions mounted as the Bosnian army massed troops for a possible bid to break the siege of Sarajevo.
The deteriorating situation there added new urgency to the G-7 talks on political and security issues Friday and Saturday where Yeltsin will participate.
Three G-7 countries -- France, Britain and Canada -- have peacekeepers in Bosnia and the issue has major importance for Clinton and Yeltsin.
Yeltsin may remind G-7 leaders that traditionally Moscow can exert pressure on the Serbs. As part of its strategy it is expected to push the Serbian case for a lifting of international sanctions.
"They [the Russians] will want to push their view on Bosnia. They have a card to play here and it is a perfect door through which they can reassert themselves," said McFaul.
The broadened stage that Yeltsin sees before him has prompted him to describe the gathering as a "Big Eight" politically and a "Group of Seven-and-a-Half" in economic terms.
"With the creation of a political 'Eight' new possibilities for common moves on political and economic issues are opening up," the government newspaper Rossiskiye Vesti said.
Yeltsin's hyperbole on Russian participation in G-7 economic talks has found no echo within the group itself.
The president arrives in Canada on Friday, when the G-7 is scheduled to have wound up discussions on economic matters of little concern to Russia.
First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais said last week that Yeltsin would probably call for easier access to world markets.
But only a broad statement of support for Russia's economic course is on the cards. "There will be a fairly nice statement but nobody in the G-7 is ready to bring Russia into the club," said a Moscow-based Western diplomat.
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