    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [April 23, 1993]
    [Pages 493-494]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Advancing U.S. Relations With Russia and the Other New
    Independent States
    April 23, 1993

        Since my summit in Vancouver with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, I
    have pursued a number of measures to implement our policy of economic
    and strategic partnership between our two countries. These reflect my
    conviction that the movement toward political and economic reform in
    Russia and the other new states of the former Soviet Union is the
    greatest security challenge of our day and can fuel our own future
    prosperity as well.
        It is time to put our relations with Russia and the other states on
    a new footing. As an important step in that process, we need to update
    the accumulated cold war vestiges that remain in U.S. laws and
    practices. Our statutes and regulations are filled with restrictions on
    a Communist Soviet Union, a nation that no longer exists. Many of those
    provisions needlessly impede our relations with the democratic states
    that replaced the Soviet Union.
        Many in Congress have already taken the lead on re-examining these
    provisions. Today I have asked Ambassador-at-Large Strobe Talbott to
    coordinate our Executive review of these laws and statutes on an
    expedited basis, with the goal of revising or removing them where
    appropriate and consistent with our security and other national
    interests. Related to this process, our administration will also begin a
    thorough review, working with our allies, of how to reorient export
    controls on sensitive technology. I ask the bipartisan leaders in
    Congress to work with us to coordinate and expedite these reviews.
        Today I am also announcing steps to help build a new security
    partnership with Russia and the other states. We will accelerate the
    deactivation of nuclear weapons systems already scheduled for
    elimination under the START I Treaty, while working to accelerate
    dismantlement in Russia and the three other states with nuclear weapons
    on their territory. We are beginning a comprehensive review of measures
    that could enhance strategic stability, including the possibility of
    each side reprogramming its

    [[Page 494]]

    nuclear missiles so they are not routinely aimed at each other. And we
    will be starting a consultative process within the next 2 months with
    Russia, our allies, and other states, aimed at commencing negotiations
    toward a multilateral nuclear test ban.
        Finally, we are continuing our efforts to strike a partnership with
    political and economic reformers throughout Russia and the other states.
    We are continuing work with our G-7 partners to assemble the package of
    multilateral assistance that Secretaries Bentsen and Christopher
    recently negotiated in Tokyo. And I am continuing consultation with
    Congress over the further efforts our own Nation will take to assist
    Russia's reforms.
        The hardest work of reform must be done by the people of Russia and
    the other states themselves, and we applaud the courageous steps they
    have taken. Yet we dare not miss opportunities to do what we can to
    bolster their processes of democratization and economic liberalization.
    The steps I am announcing today will advance those objectives.