[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book I)]
[January 12, 1994]
[Pages 43-47]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With President Leonid Kravchuk of 
Ukraine in Kiev
January 12, 1994

    President Kravchuk. Ladies and gentlemen, let me open this news 
conference and give the word to the President of the United States, Mr. 
Clinton.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much. I have just completed my 
first meeting with President Kravchuk, and I am delighted that we have 
met under such promising and historic circumstances. I was also 
delighted to be able to wish the President a happy 60th birthday on this 
auspicious occasion.
    President Kravchuk, President Yeltsin, and I are ready to sign on 
Friday an agreement committing Ukraine to eliminate 176 intercontinental 
ballistic missiles and some 1,500 nuclear warheads targeted at the 
United States. This breakthrough will enhance the security of Ukraine, 
the United States, Russia, and the entire world.
    Ukraine is a nation with a rich heritage, enormous economic 
potential, and a very important position in European security. The ties 
between our two nations have deep roots. From America's birth to the 
present day, Ukrainian immigrants have helped to shape my nation's 
history.
    Our meeting this evening begins a new era in our relations. The 
agreement President Kravchuk and I will sign with President Yeltsin 
opens the door to new forms of economic, political, and security 
cooperation. Our meeting tonight centered on three important issues.
    First, we discussed the strategic importance, for this region and 
the world, of the nuclear agreement. I commend President Kravchuk for 
his courage and his vision in negotiating this agreement.
    Second, I was able to issue a personal invitation to Ukraine to 
participate fully in the Partnership For Peace launched at this week's 
NATO summit. By providing for specific and practical cooperation between 
NATO and Ukrainian states and their forces, this Partnership can foster 
an integration of a broader Europe and increase the security of all 
nations.

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I'm very pleased by the expression of interest in participating that 
came from President Kravchuk and his Government today.
    Third, President Kravchuk and I agreed today to expand and enhance 
the economic ties between our nations. This is a difficult time of 
transition for Ukraine, but Ukraine is blessed with abundant natural 
resources and human talent. Because so many of its neighbors are moving 
toward market economies and democracy as well, I believe Ukraine's most 
promising future lies with reform and with integration with those 
burgeoning economies.
    To assist in the reform effort, I am today announcing the 
establishment of an enterprise fund for Ukraine, as well as Belarus and 
Moldova, a fund which will help to capitalize new small businesses and 
provide assistance to existing firms that seek to privatize.
    Over the last year, the United States has also provided $155 million 
in assistance to Ukraine. We are prepared to increase our support 
substantially as Ukraine moves toward economic reform. Under such 
circumstances, I also believe the international community would be able 
to provide significant support and investment to Ukraine, and I am 
prepared to work hard to see that that support and investment comes to 
pass.
    To begin this work, we will be pleased to welcome to Washington 
later this month a senior Ukrainian economic delegation. I believe that 
Ukraine can play a major role in the future of Europe, a Europe whose 
security is not based on divisions but on the possibility of integration 
based on democracy, market economics, and mutual respect for the 
existing borders of nations.
    I'm looking forward to seeing President Kravchuk in Moscow on Friday 
and to welcoming him to Washington for an official visit in March. I 
want to thank the people of Ukraine for having me here and treating me 
so warmly, if only briefly. And I would like to close by asking the 
President permission to come back and actually see the beautiful city of 
Kiev at some other time. I have sampled its wonderful food, and I'm now 
ready for the sights.
    Thank you very much.
    President Kravchuk. Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to greet the 
President of the United States, Mr. Clinton, and his accompanying 
persons in Ukraine. I'm sorry that this visit is quite short, but I hope 
and I'm confident that Mr. President will be able to visit Ukraine once 
again, so to say, in a full-scale and will be able to show him the 
Ukraine as it is. And I invite you, Mr. President, to visit Ukraine 
whenever it is convenient for you.
    This is a short visit, a few hours only, but to my mind it is worth 
several days of negotiations if it's taken into consideration the wide 
range of issues which have been discussed. And we would be glad to 
inform the world that those problems were worth its attention.
    I think the most urgent problem and the most important problem for 
the whole world now is the problem of nuclear weapons. And we have 
approached its solution. And I'm sure that this day and the forthcoming 
days open the way for the world for disarmament and for the elimination 
of nuclear weapons. And Ukraine will be committed to its obligations, 
and Ukraine will be the state which will not stand in the way to 
disarmament.
    A lot of time was devoted to discussing the bilateral relations 
between the Ukraine and the United States. And I'm glad that the 
President of the United States and the United States support our country 
in this time of our hardships. And I'm sure that this sort of 
cooperation and support is real support of all independent states which 
have emerged on the basis of the former Soviet Union.
    I'm sure that the charter for cooperation and friendship between our 
states, which is now being finished up by our experts, will be a new 
stage in the development of our relations. For us, it is very important 
that there is an understanding from the part of the President of the 
United States of urgency of the support to Ukraine in carrying out its 
economic reform and support its reforming processes. I am happy that the 
President of the United States will support our country in such 
international financial structures as the International Monetary Fund, 
the World Bank, European Bank for the Reconstruction and Development.
    We understand that we have to be decisive in carrying out reforms, 
and we are ready for that. And we are happy with the development of our 
trade relations and that new prospects are opening up.
    We support the initiative of the United States, its program which is 
called the Partnership For Peace, which we consider to be the universal 
formula which enables the participation of all countries. We understand 
that this program does

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not solve all the problems of security, but anyhow, it gives the 
possibility of all states to participate.
    I'd like to greet once again Mr. President here in the Ukraine, and 
I would like to point out that in all issues we have discussed we have 
found joint, common viewpoints. This meeting was short, but it was very 
important and fruitful and it opened a new stage in the development of 
Ukrainian-American relations, which I am confident will be long-term and 
reliable.
    Thank you for your attention.
    If you don't mind, Mr. President, I'll have the office now of the 
press secretary. [Laughter] I give the possibility to ask questions of 
our guests, American journalists.

Denuclearization Agreement

    Q. Wolf Blitzer, of CNN. What exactly must your Parliament now do to 
ratify this agreement? And exactly how long will it take for Ukraine to 
become a nonnuclear nation?
    President Kravchuk. You know, the philosophers say that everything 
changes in the world, even you cannot step in the same river twice. So I 
hope that our Parliament becomes cleverer in the course of its life and 
it sees the reality of the present days, and it will understand the 
essence of these relations and the wish of the three states. And when 
they will understand it, they will support the implementation of these 
agreements.
    Q. Ukraine sympathizes with you and your wife, Hillary, but anyhow, 
there's a question here. There is a decision of the Parliament, the 
Ukrainian Parliament, on disarmament. According to mass media, you told 
that there will be a financial technological assistance. But your words 
were that you will render technical assistance. Is that true?
    President Clinton. Well, I will attempt to answer the question as I 
understand it. First of all, Ukraine is already due some compensation 
for the tactical nuclear weapons it has already dismantled. And I have 
discussed with the President the quickest way of reaching an agreement 
on how much is due and how it can be delivered.
    Secondly, under the so-called Nunn-Lugar bill, Ukraine is entitled 
to a substantial amount of money to help to dismantle the offensive 
strategic nuclear weapons, which can be used for not only dismantling 
the weapons but for some of the defense conversion needs of Ukraine as 
well.
    But over and above that, the United States is committed to rendering 
economic assistance to Ukraine to help start new enterprises, to help 
fund privatization, and to help make this painful transition to a new 
economy. And we are further committed to helping convince other nations 
and the international financial institutions to help as well.
    Finally, as part of our agreement, of course, Ukraine will be 
compensated for the highly enriched uranium that is a part of nuclear 
weapons. And that is a strictly commercial arrangement because that 
uranium can be turned into fuel rods for commercial purposes and 
electric power plants.

Whitewater Development Corp.

    Q. Thank you, and happy birthday, President Kravchuk. President 
Clinton, as President of the United States you do not have the luxury at 
home to ignore events overseas, and perhaps the reverse is true. Former 
President Carter was one today who came out and suggested the time had 
come for an independent counsel to take a look at the Morgan Guaranty 
savings and loan situation. He and many other Democrats are looking to 
you for an indication of whether that's appropriate. Is it?
    President Clinton. I have nothing to say about that on this trip 
except that most of them have been denied the facts that are already in 
the public record before they made their comment, largely as a result of 
the way this thing has been discussed. But I have nothing else to say 
about that.
    President Kravchuk. Thank you for your greetings, and I'd like to 
note that there is a gentleman sitting over here who mentioned the wife 
of Mr. President, Hillary. So once again, I would like to give the words 
to a woman. And I hope I'll receive another portion of greetings.

Denuclearization Agreement

    Q. Sometimes there are financial programs, but they lack 
implementors. Where's the guarantee that these programs will be 
implemented?
    President Kravchuk. If this is a question to me, I would answer that 
the guarantees are inside the Ukraine, the way we work, the way they 
will have the attitude to us. So these are the guarantees.

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    President Clinton. If I might add just one point. Sometimes in 
discussions with nations, financial guarantees do not materialize 
because they are dependent on decisions made by other parties, usually 
the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. In this case, every 
part of our agreement depends only upon the three Presidents and their 
Governments to keep their word. The first thing I said to President 
Kravchuk tonight is that I would do everything I could to make sure that 
all three of us did exactly what was in the agreement. And I am 
confident that we will.
    President Kravchuk. I'm sorry, as a press secretary I would ask for 
some more questions, but here is a protocol, so the last question, 
please.

Russia and NATO

    Q. Mr. President, Mr. President Clinton, you mentioned the PFP, the 
Partnership For Peace. And there are some people who say that Russia has 
been using a type of passive imperialism in order to keep countries of 
Eastern Europe and Central Europe out of NATO for the time being. Do 
you--by threatening destabilization. Do you agree with that? And I would 
be very interested in what President Kravchuk has to say.
    President Clinton. No, I don't. The short answer to the question is, 
I do not agree with that, although President Yeltsin himself has 
expressed reservations about NATO membership for other countries if 
Russia is excluded. You know, he has expressed an interest in being a 
member himself.
    The leaders of NATO concluded that they should not offer membership 
at this time to any country because they weren't sure any country was 
ready to assume the responsibilities of membership and because they 
didn't want to exclude anyone else.
    The Partnership For Peace offers a genuine concrete military 
security cooperation, joint planning, joint training, joint operations 
to all the states of the former Soviet Union and to all of the members 
of what was the Warsaw Pact. And we are genuinely interested in reaching 
out to all these nations.
    I can assure you that no one has a veto over NATO membership. It is 
anticipated that the Partnership For Peace will lead to NATO membership 
for many of those who participate in the Partnership who want to go 
through and assume the responsibilities of membership, ultimately.
    That's how I see it. President Yeltsin only said that he didn't, at 
this time, want another line drawn across Europe. He wanted to have a 
chance to be part of an integrated European security network in which 
every nation would have to respect the territorial boundaries of every 
other state.
    President Kravchuk. Mr. President Clinton, and I'll give one more 
question to the Ukrainian side.

Denuclearization Agreement

    Q. The question to President Clinton: What assurances of security 
will the United States give and Russia give to Ukraine after it will 
have the nonnuclear status?
    President Clinton. Well, first of all, what goes with the Non-
Proliferation Treaty adherence is the absolute security that no one who 
has nuclear weapons will ever use them against any nation that is part 
of the NPT. That is the first security.
    But let me make two other points, which I think are more important, 
at least as a practical matter, to Ukraine's security. Number one, the 
Partnership For Peace gives Ukraine the opportunity to work with the 
military forces of the United States and all of NATO in planning and 
working together and in establishing patterns of conduct which clearly 
will increase the security of this nation.
    Second, and perhaps even more important, Ukraine's decision to 
become a nonnuclear state opens the possibility of receiving significant 
economic assistance, not just from the United States but from the 
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development, the G-7 nations, and other nations who 
understand the greatness of this nation, its strategic importance and 
its economic potential. And I believe that in the 21st century, it will 
be difficult for any nation to be secure unless it is economically 
strong.
    So perhaps that is the most important thing of all, the whole range 
of possibilities that are now open to Ukraine because of this courageous 
decision by the President.
    President Kravchuk. Ladies and gentlemen, we would compensate what 
we haven't time to do, when we'll be implementing our program. And you 
will be compensated with an objective description of the role and the 
processes in

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Ukraine. And now the best thing for us to do is to wish Mr. President 
Clinton bon voyage.
    President Clinton. Let me say this in closing: If he did not have 
such a very important job, I would invite President Kravchuk to the 
United States to run my press conferences. [Laughter]

Note: The President's 43d news conference began at 9:50 p.m. at Boryspil 
Airport. President Kravchuk spoke in Ukrainian, and his remarks were 
translated by an interpreter.