[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992, Book I)]
[June 16, 1992]
[Pages 943-944]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With President Boris 
Yeltsin of Russia

June 16, 1992

POW-MIA's

    Q. Mr. President, do you think there are any POW's in the Soviet 
Union, Americans? This to President Bush first and then Yeltsin.
    President Yeltsin. It is possible.
    Q. Are they alive?
    President Yeltsin. An investigating commission is working, led by 
Mr. Volkogonov. Many things have been revealed after the examination of 
the archives of the KGB and the Central Committee of the Communist 
Party. But that work is continuing both in the archives and in the 
places where the POW's were. We shall try to investigate each individual 
case. And all the information will be, of course, handed over to the 
American side. The initial information has been handed over to the 
Senate.
    Q. Would you expect more information this week?
    President Bush. Let me just thank President Yeltsin for this because 
this is a matter of grave concern to the American people. He has made 
these observations, pledged full cooperation and support. I think this 
really expresses as well as anything else this new era that we were both 
talking about on the lawn. And I have every confidence that what he says 
here is true, that they will get to the bottom of it. And if any single 
American is unaccounted for, they will go the extra mile to see that 
that person is accounted for. And I think that's what the American 
people need to know. I think that's what President Yeltsin has clearly 
pledged to do. So we are grateful to him for that.
    Q. Does it come as a complete surprise to you, Mr. President?
    President Bush. Yes, it comes as a----
    Q. You had no idea?
    President Bush. Thank you all very much.
    Q. Have you got an arms agreement yet?
    President Bush. Out of here, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press 
International].

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

    Q. ----additional information on the American POW's.
    President Yeltsin. As I just answered that question.
    Q. We were behind the doors.
    President Yeltsin. The commission headed by Volkogonov was working 
and is continuing to work, and they're opening up all the data. If they 
said this issue doesn't exist, that there are no POW's there now, there 
are a lot of factors being opened up and discovered. And it's very 
possible that there are a few of them still left alive, even on our own 
territory perhaps. So the commission is continuing its work, and we are 
going to carry this all the way to the very ground to find out the fate 
of every single last American who might be on our territory.
    Q. How much time will that require? What new ideas and projects were 
you talk-

[[Page 944]]

ing about in your opening statement?
    President Yeltsin. That's ahead. That's for our negotiations.

Nuclear Arms Agreement

    Q. Boris Nikolayevich, tell us please, and you, Mr. Bush, both agree 
that the program is very, very intense, a lot on the plate, 20 different 
issues. What are you going to be concentrating your attention on with 
Mr. Bush?
    President Yeltsin. First of all, national security and deep cuts in 
nuclear arms. As a matter of fact, up until now we have not yet 
finalized this issue, but we have met with the President and with our 
delegations, of course, and the Secretaries of State and the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, to sit down and finalize this today. And I'm sure that 
we will find a solution, and we shall sign a balanced, equal agreement. 
I'm sure of that.
    Q. Do you think you will be able to announce a new arms control 
agreement by the end of the day?
    President Bush. As soon as you get out of here, we're going to talk 
about it.
    Thank you all.

                    Note: The exchange began at 10:35 a.m. in the Oval 
                        Office. President Yeltsin spoke in Russian, and 
                        his remarks were translated by an interpreter. A 
                        tape was not available for verification of the 
                        content of this exchange.