    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [September 28, 1994]
    [Pages 1642-1649]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's News Conference With President Boris Yeltsin of Russia
    September 28, 1994

        President Clinton. We will begin the press conference now with
    opening statements, after which we will have, obviously, questions from
    the press. And we will do our best to alternate between the Russian and
    American press corps.

    [[Page 1643]]

        Hillary and I and our entire delegation have very much enjoyed
    having President and Mrs. Yeltsin with us, along with all the Russians
    who came with them. When President Yeltsin arrived yesterday, I spoke of
    the new partnership between our two nations. After our talks, one thing
    is clear: Relations between our nations are moving forward at full
    speed.
        Both our countries, as President Yeltsin said yesterday, are
    sometimes not so easy to deal with, but we're succeeding in tackling
    some hard challenges. Over the past 2 days we've made good progress on
    security, economic, and diplomatic issues.
        I'm pleased to announce today that President Yeltsin and I have
    agreed that as soon as the START I treaty takes effect and the START II
    treaty is ratified by both of our countries, we will immediately begin
    removing the nuclear warheads that are due to be scrapped under START
    II, instead of taking the 9 years allowed. There will be no adverse
    impact on the United States or the Soviet Union. Indeed, by shaving
    several years off the timetable, we will make the world safer for all of
    us.
        We also plan to work together to encourage Ukraine to join the
    Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty this year. As the world's two largest
    nuclear powers, we recognize our special responsibilities to ensure the
    security of nuclear weapons and materials, even as we keep dismantling
    them. This is one of the most urgent security challenges all the nations
    of the globe face as we enter the next century.
        President Yeltsin and I spent a lot of time on this issue. We
    understand we won't solve the problem overnight, but the steps we've
    taken in areas such as inspecting each other's storage facilities and
    information sharing are an important start. We are personally committed
    to seeing this issue through.
        Today President Yeltsin and I have signed an agreement that will
    gradually normalize our economic relations by removing major barriers to
    trade and investment. American support for Russian economic reform has
    been constant, and over the last 2 days American and Russian businesses
    have signed deals worth nearly $1 billion, ranging from agriculture to
    telecommunications. We met several American and Russian business leaders
    this morning, and we're determined to advance America's investment in
    and trade with Russia. We will transfer $100 million in aid funds to
    directly support trade and investment through OPIC and the Commerce
    Department. And we will also devote $30 million to help in the fight
    against crime in Russia through cooperation between the FBI and the
    Justice Department and appropriate Russian authorities.
        On the diplomatic front, we've made progress on the difficult issue
    of Russian arms sales to Iran. We agreed to continue to work on this
    problem in the near future. We also agreed to work more closely together
    to help resolve the tragic conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. On Bosnia, we
    repeated our commitment to work within the Contact Group to compel the
    parties to accept the settlement that has been worked out. Once again, I
    congratulated President Yeltsin on his historic decision to withdraw
    Russian troops from the Baltic nations.
        No area better captures the potential for our emerging partnership
    than Russian-American cooperation in space. President Yeltsin and I
    first discussed this idea in Vancouver last year and decided we needed
    to go forward. Today I have signed into law a bill that will help to
    fund the international space station. This bill is the result in no
    small measure of the extraordinary cooperation between Vice President
    Gore and Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, as well as the strong bipartisan
    support we received in the United States Congress. Like so much that
    we've accomplished in the past 2 days, this space station symbolizes the
    potential for progress when we work together.
        This is the fifth time President Yeltsin and I have met since I came
    into office. I think I've spent more time with him than with any other
    world leader. We've made real progress over the last few days, in no
    small measure because we've worked together, we've learned to be open
    and candid with each other about our differences, we've built an
    atmosphere of mutual trust. And I'm confident that our partnership is
    working and will continue to work, not only between our two governments
    but increasingly between the people of Russia and the United States.
        Mr. President.
        President Yeltsin. Thank you.
        Ladies and gentlemen, first of all, I would like to express the
    feeling of great thanks and appreciation to President Bill Clinton, to
    his wife, Hillary, and also to the American people and you, the
    journalists, for a very warm welcome and for very fine conditions which
    were

    [[Page 1644]]

    created to make our very tough and difficult visit, to make it very
    productive.
        We always start these meetings by saying that we've really done a
    tremendous amount of work. We always say this at these press
    conferences. But we can't say that this meeting, as well, doesn't
    deserve this kind of characterization. In fact, we have accomplished a
    lot of work. And if we planned at one time that we were going to have
    one 30-minute one-on-one session, it turns out it lasted for 3 hours. So
    you can judge for yourselves how many issues we touched upon and
    discussed and what a wide scope we really worked on.
        Although I have a trip to Seattle coming up where I want to
    familiarize myself with the West--I had never been out West, out on the
    West Coast of the United States. I want to familiarize myself and get to
    know the Boeing Company, the city of Seattle, and just to see what kind
    of Americans live out there on the West Coast and how they work and how
    they are.
        We, of course, with Bill now, it's--we are interlocutors who know
    each other and partners in our discussions and negotiations. We know
    each other very well, and more than that, we this time don't have to
    come and start warming up. We've had phone conversations; we talked
    ahead of time. So we started from the word go, right from the very
    beginning. We say that our partnership has to be pragmatic and not
    declaratory. And right away from the very beginning, we agreed to that.
        I'm sure that neither Russia nor the United States needs all kinds
    of sharp deviations from having good, normal communications and ties. We
    don't need a situation where the whole world is in trepidation. We don't
    need to waste a lot of words and chew a lot of fat, but we have to get
    down to basics and start working in a very pragmatic style.
        Of course, I say these words--now I think Bill has confirmed that
    the United States is a very complex partner, and Russia also is, too.
    But look, what family doesn't have some kind of squabbles occasionally
    which, eventually, they kind of work out. It's not always that simple,
    right? I mean, here are two great humongous, almost half billion member
    family who, too, has sometimes its own little approaches, if you will.
    But the most important thing is the ability to listen, to have patience,
    to have humanity, respect to each other. And then, absolutely, we will
    be able to find solutions.
        I just want to tell you, to be short about it, these little
    introductory words--I just want to give you literally that very list
    that those issues that we discussed. Here we go, and then later on,
    you'll be able to ask questions. It will be a lot easier to ask
    questions. [Laughter]
        The most important talks and subjects of these talks are the
    strategic partnerships between Russia and the United States;
    international issues; external political coordination of our efforts so
    that we two great powers, two countries, constantly coordinated
    everything that we do so that nothing happens in the world that might
    ruin peace on our planet--we have to support peace; the Big-8;
    peacekeeping; CIS; the role of Russia in the CIS; NATO and Russia;
    coordination in the United Nations Security Council; reforming United
    Nations; cooperating in the United Nations and the CIS; the situation
    all around the world, Bosnia, Middle East, Caribbean Basin, North Korea,
    Rwanda, Islamic extremism, Iran, Libya, Iraq, Trans-Dniester, Nagorno-
    Karabakh, Abkhazia, Tajikistan, the Baltics; military issues; START
    III--START I, START II, now III, START III now--we're talking about
    three--[laughter]--nonproliferation; harmonizing our--you're not
    catching up? You can't think fast enough? [Laughter] You can't think
    fast enough? Well, okay, then I'll go a little slower. All right?
    [Laughter] Apparently we're not on the same wavelength here, you and I,
    in terms of the pace here, okay.
        Non-pro-lif-er-a-tion of weapons--[laughter]--harmonizing military
    doctrines, harmonizing, since today doctrine in the United States, the
    military doctrine, is one; Russia has a different one. How are we going
    to be able to have a partnership, friendly partnership, and work
    together if we have such disparate military doctrines?
        New initiatives of the great five powers on strategic stability; ABM
    systems, strategic and tactical ABM systems; biological weapons;
    chemical weapons; destruction and elimination of nuclear weapons, the
    safe elimination of nuclear weapons; exchange of information on nuclear
    arms and fissile materials for the first time; banning nuclear testing;
    participation of Russia in the regime of rocket technology--and we
    attach ourselves to this, we are joining where the United States is the
    initiator; banning the export of mines, antipersonnel mines--I fully
    support

    [[Page 1645]]

    the proposal of the United States of America in the U.N., when he spoke
    about getting rid of these antipersonnel mines; incidents with
    submarines.
        Economic issues; investments; getting rid of discriminatory
    limitations on Russia and opening up the American market to Russian
    goods; the status for Russia of an economy in transition; post-COCOM
    economic and trade projects; free trade status; GATT; finally, we got
    together and agreed on the so-called Jackson-Vanik amendment. I've
    already said that every single kid in Russia knows who these people are,
    Jackson and this guy Vanik. [Laughter] The President, by my decree--I
    mean, by his decree--well, maybe it's temporary, but he has stopped it,
    all right, the actions of this amendment. And I am grateful that this
    was a huge window, a bright window that appeared here between us. I'm
    very grateful.
        Questions of crime; cooperating in the field of education, culture,
    ecology, environment, national minorities, the north; cooperation on
    tariffs, duties.
        And the President has already said that, of course, for all mankind,
    this is very important, so that in place of the year 2003, after the
    ratification of START II by Russia and the United States we
    simultaneously remove all those weapons from alert status that were
    mentioned in the treaty, immediately. In other words, we save at least
    7, maybe more, years by doing it right away. And we give mankind hope
    that our generation will be, for sure, living in peace.
        At the center of our negotiation was the strategy of partnership
    between Russia and the United States. And I've already said that we've
    agreed on the fact that it should be more pragmatic.
        Discussions of partnership for economic progress as well--we agreed
    here, also. In the United States now we have a large group of Russian
    businessmen. In New York I met with the captains of industry, big
    industry in the United States and with Russia. And today, as a matter of
    fact, with President Bill Clinton, we met also with representatives of
    big business here. And we came to terms and decided, well, what, after
    all, is standing in the way of investments and attracting investments
    and capital to Russia, on the part of private capital. And I have to say
    that we, in general, came to terms with this.
        Looking into the future, we, at the same time, tried not to sort of
    float above this sinful Earth. Specifically, we agreed on fighting
    crime. And there are other specific things, protecting the environment
    in the north of Russia, protecting the environment; communications
    systems, developing communication.
        After all, I mean, I just have to say that even though many people
    predicted that this is going to be not just tough negotiations but
    they're going to fall through in the ultimate analysis, I have to really
    be very sorry and express my condolences to these people. We agreed to
    almost practically on every single one of these issues. Sometimes the
    United States stepped forward and compromised a little; sometimes Russia
    compromised. But the most important thing is for peace, for humanity,
    for mankind, for our whole planet, we have agreed.
        Thank you. Now, please, questions. He is the host, so he calls the
    shots. [Laughter]
        President Clinton. Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International].
    Let me say, one of the things I would do--I've always wanted to be on
    the other side of this microphone, and if I were on the other side of
    the microphone today, my question would be, ``And what were your
    agreements on issues 15, 27, and 43?'' [Laughter]
        Go ahead, Helen.
        Q. Well, I have a question for each of the Presidents, and I've
    narrowed it a bit. You covered the waterfront, and I'm sure you have all
    the answers. I would like to ask President Clinton, are you going to
    call a special session on GATT?
        President Yeltsin, I think the American people are very happy to
    find out that Russia will never attack the United States, as you said
    today, that you would never fight. But we are a little bit concerned----
        President Clinton. Excuse me, Helen. Apparently the Russian
    interpreter is not coming through the microphone. No, no, no--he can
    hear you. It's the Russian--we need the Russian. We need someone to say
    this in Russian.
        Q. Oh, okay, I'm sure the United States is very happy to hear you
    say that Russia will never attack the U.S. You said that today, and
    that's very good. But there is some concern that Russia may still have
    some feeling that it has a sphere of influence over former Soviet
    republics, and that when you intervene, you don't feel

    [[Page 1646]]

    it necessary to go through international institutions. Is that true?

    General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

        President Clinton. So we have two separate questions. I'll answer
    mine first.
        I think it is the responsibility of the United States and the United
    States Congress to pass the GATT this year. And I hope that the Congress
    will do it before they leave. Our information is that there are more
    than enough votes to pass it in the House and that we have a majority in
    the Senate if we can get the bill to the floor. That's so often the
    question in the Senate. So we'll keep trying to pass it. If for some
    reason the Senate does not pass it, then I will urge that they stay in
    session and simply go on recess for the election break and then come
    back after the recess and pass GATT.
        This is the biggest trade agreement in history. It's the biggest
    worldwide tax cut in history by reductions of tariffs, $36 billion in
    this country alone. It will give us 300,000 to 500,000 new high-wage
    jobs in the next few years alone. I think it is important to pass it.
        Our country has established, even in what has been a reasonably or
    very partisan atmosphere in the last couple of years, a real commitment
    during our administration to work in a bipartisan way toward expanded
    trade. So I urge the Congress to pass the GATT before they go home. If
    it passes the House and doesn't pass the Senate I will urge that the
    Senate stay in session, take a recess for the election, come back
    afterward, and pass this. It's very important.
        We have the APEC meeting coming up; we have the Summit of the
    Americas coming up. We're trying to break down our barriers with Russia
    and many other countries. The United States has to lead on this, and I
    intend to do everything I can to see that we do lead.
        President Yeltsin.

    Russian Foreign Policy

        President Yeltsin. Well, of course, we're not planning to avoid and
    go walk around the decisions of the United Nations. Moreover, as you
    know, I'm appearing at the General Assembly session and I came out and
    talked for strengthening it, for widening this organization, so this
    organization would be strengthened in the future. Maybe they need it now
    more than ever, more than 20 years ago.
        So, now, as far as the CIS countries, how do you feel, I mean, are
    you close to the neighbor that you live next to, or not? Of course--are
    you? [Laughter]
        Well, these are our neighbors. Yesterday, we all were in the same--
    we lived in the same house in the Soviet Union. There is no Soviet
    Union, but these republics stay. They're our blood, right? Come on,
    let's be honest. We've helped them financially just as you help other
    countries, you financially help other countries, Latin America, Africa,
    et cetera, et cetera. It's only natural that we would have contacts and
    ties. They should be good. As a matter of fact, now we're planning some
    kind of centripetal forces pulling them inward, those tendencies.
    Everybody wants to be close to Russia, and we will be friendly with
    them, and we will support them, but in no way--not to contravene any
    international norms of behavior which are established or which shall be
    established. No.
        President Clinton. Call on a Russian, Mr. President.

    COCOM and Russia-U.S. Trade

        Q. Now, COCOM and antidumping campaign, are there any specific
    decisions, any specific time lines and schedules and solutions?
        President Yeltsin. Well, probably, it's the first time now that we
    have--for a long time we marched along this path. It took us a long time
    to get here. There were many problems along the way, but we've come to
    terms. The conditions--I think Bill will probably agree with me--I can
    tell you very frankly that for us the one condition that was set was
    that--we supply weapons to Iran, and so we were not allowed to this so-
    called kitchen in the creation of the post-COCOM regime where they were
    cooking up whatever this regime was going to look like.
        Now, how have we come to an agreement? Now, there was a contract
    signed by the former Soviet Union with Iran. We are solid citizens,
    great power; we cannot but satisfy the terms of that contract. So the
    old contract, which had been signed years ago, back in '88, will be
    honored. But no other new contracts, no other new supplies, no other new
    shipments of weapons and weapons goods will be shipped. Those are the
    grounds upon which Bill Clinton agreed that we are going to participate
    in the post-COCOM era.
        President Clinton. You asked another question. Let me say that is
    generally accurate where

    [[Page 1647]]

    there are some--we reached a conceptual agreement in principle about how
    we would proceed, and then we agreed to let our experts on this matter
    work through it. And so we are working through it now, and we hope to
    resolve it soon. But we cannot say that it is resolved because in this
    matter, as you might understand, for both of us the details are quite
    important. So that while we reached a conceptual agreement, we have to
    work through the details.
        Now, with regard to the antidumping, I think what you're referring
    to is my attempts to get the Congress to pass legislation which would
    declare Russia an economy in transition, which would facilitate more
    two-way trade. I have proposed such legislation to the Congress; it has
    not yet passed. We are working on a package of initiatives which would
    include the reduction of trade barriers in Russia and some more
    initiatives on our part so that we could get that kind of economy-in-
    transition status, which I think responds to the question that you
    asked.

    General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

        Q. Mr. President, as you know, it's within your authority to call
    Congress back into session should it leave without passing GATT. Are you
    prepared to take that step if necessary, sir?
        President Clinton. Well, I thought I made that clear. Yes, my
    preference would be, and what I believe we can do, based on our
    soundings today, is, if Congress leaves without passing GATT, I will ask
    that the Senate not adjourn but simply to go in recess and then return
    afterward. I will do whatever I can within the law to do everything I
    can to pass the GATT this year. I think it is important that it pass.
    It's important that it pass this year. It's important for the United
    States and our leadership, our efforts to get others to drop their trade
    barriers, to open their markets, to move forward. We have to set an
    example here.
        I might say that a lot of the people who were opposed to NAFTA--let
    me just point out, our trade with Mexico has increased by about 19
    percent in the last year. Our sales of autos and trucks have increased
    by 600 percent. And that's one of the reasons that a lot of those folks
    are working overtime for the first time in a decade. So this is plainly
    in our interest. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. And I'm
    going to do whatever I can, Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News], within the law
    to get this done this year.

    Security and Stability Initiative

        Q. Appearing at the United Nations, you proposed to immediately work
    out a treaty on stability and security. Apparently, you discussed this,
    too, with the President. How much do you feel that the approaches of
    Russia and the United States are similar in terms of coming up with a
    treaty? How would they coincide?
        President Yeltsin. Well, in principle, the President of the United
    States agreed with the formulation that I made. Although he did say that
    the President of Russia has put forth too many initiatives there at the
    Assembly, and we're going to have to have some time to study all of
    these new initiatives that I've put forward.

    Bosnia

        Q. President Yeltsin, sir, you said again today that you oppose
    lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia. Would Russia veto a resolution to
    lift that arms embargo if the Serbs don't agree to a settlement within a
    certain amount of months?
        And to President Clinton, what's your understanding of--is there any
    agreement between the two of you on this contentious issue?
        President Yeltsin. Well, first of all, it's made easier for us by
    the decision, in solving this issue, the fact that the Bosnians
    themselves have asked a delay for, say, 4 to 6 months altogether, even
    to take it off of the agenda for discussion. But in 6 months we'll take
    a look and see.
        President Clinton. What we did agree to do was to take some new
    initiatives to try to get the thing worked out as quickly as possible.
    And we still have a potential difference over that issue; there's no
    question about it. But we have--let me say, the remarkable thing here is
    how closely we have worked together on Bosnia for many months now. And I
    think a lot of the good things that have happened in that whole sad case
    have come about because we have worked together with Russia and with our
    NATO allies as well as with the United Nations.

    Russia-U.S. Investment and Trade

        Q. What are you planning to do in improving the investment climate
    for American companies after your discussions here that you had all day?
    And an additional question to President Bill Clinton regarding the
    antidumping legislation. Does it mean giving Russians the transition
    economy status, the Section 4.06 on trade?

    [[Page 1648]]

        President Yeltsin. I answer by saying that in meeting with
    businessmen, every one of them when he speaks said one and the same
    thing, taxes, taxes. We, ourselves, understand that in '91 a reborn
    Russia rather quickly prepared legislation on taxation, and it was full
    of mistakes, both for our own businessmen and for outside businessmen.
    And so now, what we're preparing--and among this is also, very kindly
    Bill proposed the use of our American 200-year history and experience in
    tax legislation, that we send a group of tax specialists here to take a
    look at how all these things are formed in the United States. But we're
    preparing a tax code which will, I feel, be adopted in the first 6
    months, the first half of 1995. And it, of course, is substantially
    going to be different from the situation today and, of course, will make
    life a lot more easy for the foreign investors as well.
        President Clinton. Let me respond very briefly to the question you
    asked. If Russia were granted under Federal law an economy-in-transition
    status, then the rules for judging whether products are being dumped or
    not would be somewhat different. The United States has made a great
    effort to trade more with Russia. Since I've been President, we've
    tripled our trade in 1993 over 1992; we doubled our purchases in 1994
    over 1993. So we are working ahead. But we also have to have some tariff
    relief on things that we can sell in Russia in certain critical areas,
    including aerospace, automobiles, confectionery, a lot of other things
    we've talked about. So we're going to try to work through that and get a
    resolution.
        Go ahead, Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News].

    Russian Foreign Policy

        Q. I'd like to ask both President Yeltsin and President Clinton: The
    United States has been concerned about what Russia will do in the former
    CIS countries, particularly Nagorno-Karabakh. You've spoken to that, but
    can I ask you, how is that any different from the sphere of influence
    that the United States claims to have over Haiti? And I'd like your
    comment as well.
        President Clinton. Fair question.
        President Yeltsin. Well, you know, in general, the President of the
    United States and we personally never really got into the details of
    this issue and only now we dedicated a lot of time at this session. As a
    matter of fact, we haven't even finished in one day; we carried it over
    until today. Today we discussed it again, on Nagorno-Karabakh. And
    finally, in principle, the principle approach, we sort of brought them
    together. But in order to implement these, we're going to need some time
    to prepare documents, to look at the U.N. documentation. In short, the
    most important thing is that we have come to an understanding on this.
        Q. President Yeltsin, I'm interested in whether you feel that the
    U.S. objections to Russian intervention with your neighbors is any
    different than what the United States has done in intervening in Haiti,
    which we claim is part of our sphere of influence. Do you think there is
    some hypocrisy here on the part of the United States?
        President Yeltsin. No, I cannot say that, because Russia voted for
    the Resolution 940 in the United Nations and thereby we supported the
    actions of the United States of America.
        Now, as Nagorno-Karabakh, this is our neighbor. They asked us that
    we help them, that we participate in the resolution of this conflict,
    just like we resolved it in Moldova, just like we set up peacekeeping
    forces between Abkhazia and Georgia, and there bloodshed stopped. Now we
    have to get the refugees back, et cetera. We're helping our neighbors.
        President Clinton. Let me answer that question. First of all, the
    United States does not object to Russia taking an active role in the
    resolution of the problem in Nagorno-Karabakh. What we have discussed
    with the Russians, and what Boris and I finally had a chance to discuss
    personally together at some considerable length, is how that could be
    made more like Haiti, that is, how whatever Russia does should be done
    in a manner that is consistent with and within the framework of a United
    Nations resolution.
        I think that Russia plainly does have an interest, a significant
    interest, in what happens on its borders and what happens in countries
    on its borders. In all of our discussions, President Yeltsin has
    acknowledged that he respected the sovereignty, the independence, and
    the territorial integrity of all those countries, but that what happened
    there affected what happened within his country and that there were
    things that he might be able to do there in pursuit of stability,
    without being inconsistent with sovereignty and territorial integrity
    and independence, that were appropriate.

    [[Page 1649]]

        What we did in Haiti, as you know, was not to act on our own,
    although the United States has in the 20th century acted on its own many
    times in this hemisphere. We went to the United Nations. We amassed an
    international coalition that has 28 nations for the first phase of this
    operation and then even more for the second phase. And I think that's
    the way we ought to proceed.
        It may be necessary for other nations with military or other
    capacity to handle other problems or to at least take the lead on other
    problems in their areas. But when it is done, it should be done within
    the framework of the United Nations wherever possible and with respect
    for territorial integrity. And I think we are moving forward in that
    direction.
        Press Secretary Myers. Last question.

    ABM Treaty

        Q. Based on the reports of the U.S. press sources, the United States
    aimed at making additions to the ABM Treaty which substantially changes
    its content. Was this discussed at the negotiations and talks? And what
    is your impression?
        President Yeltsin. Well, apparently you didn't catch--I was reading
    so fast this list of mine, you didn't--I mentioned there the ABM. In
    other words, we did discuss the ABM issue, but there, taking into the
    account the professional difficulties, we handed that over to a joint
    commission which is now working so that it can make its recommendations.
    Right?
        President Clinton. Thank you.

    Note: The President's 71st news conference began at 3:45 p.m. in the
    East Room at the White House. President Yeltsin spoke in Russian, and
    his remarks were translated by an interpreter. In his remarks, President
    Clinton referred to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia. H.R.
    4624, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
    Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1995, approved
    September 28, was assigned Public Law No. 103-327.