Staff writer

The 18 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in a major policy change, may decide later this month to admit Russia as a member, government sources said Tuesday.

The sources, closely involved in APEC affairs, said top leaders at the informal APEC summit to be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, may also decide to grant membership to Peru as well as Vietnam, which was admitted to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in July 1995.

The sources said another scenario is possible where only Peru and Vietnam would be admitted next year, while a membership moratorium of several years would be imposed on all the other applicants, except Russia. Peru and Vietnam have long been considered the top candidates for entry to APEC, which was established in 1989 with 12 participants.

"The possibility is growing that the APEC members will decide this month to admit Russia into APEC next year or at least within the next few years to prevent the question of new membership from becoming too complicated and getting out of control," one of the government sources said.

ASEAN currently is made up of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and the recently admitted Laos and Myanmar. The ASEAN members of APEC -- Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Brunei -- have strongly pushed for Vietnam's entry into APEC.

The summit in Vancouver will be preceded immediately by the ninth annual APEC ministerial talks. The APEC leaders agreed during last year's summit in the Philippines to adopt criteria in Vancouver for admitting new members to the Pacific Rim grouping. They also voted in Malaysia in 1998 to approve new members and to let them actually participate in New Zealand in 1999.

More than 10 countries, including India and Mongolia, as well as Russia, Vietnam and Peru, have applied for APEC membership. It is highly unlikely that all will be granted membership.

APEC officials believe the proposal by the two countries partly reflects their desire to prevent APEC from staying under the sway of the United States -- the world's sole superpower in the post-Cold War period -- by having more developing economies admitted, the sources said.