    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [May 10, 1995]
    [Pages 672-677]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Students at Moscow State University
    May 10, 1995

        Thank you very much, Rector Sadovnichy, Mrs. Sadovnichy. To the
    faculty and, most of all, to the students of Moscow State University, I
    am deeply honored to be here and to be here just a few years after my
    predecessor President Reagan also spoke to the students.
        I can think of no better place than a great seat of learning like
    Moscow State University to speak about the past and future of Russia. In
    this spirit, Mikhail Lomonosov lives on, for just as he modernized your
    ancient language for the Russian people two centuries ago, today you
    must take the lead in shaping a new language, a language of democracy
    that will help all Russia to chart a new course for your ancient land.
    Here, you openly debate the pressing issues of the day. And though you
    can only hear echoes of your nation's history, you are living it and
    making it as you ponder and prepare for what is yet to come.
        Yesterday all of Russia and much of the entire world paused to
    remember the end of World

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    War II and the terrible, almost unimaginable price the peoples of the
    Soviet Union paid for survival and for victory. Because our alliance
    with you was shattered at the war's end by the onset of the cold war,
    Americans never fully appreciated, until yesterday, the true extent of
    your sacrifice and its contribution to our common victory. And the
    Russian people were denied the full promise of that victory in World War
    II, a victory that bought the West five decades of freedom and
    prosperity.
        Now the cold war is over. Democracy has triumphed through decades of
    Western resolve, but that victory was also yours, through the
    determination of the peoples of Russia, the other former Soviet
    republics, and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe to be free
    and to move into the 21st century as a part of, not apart from, the
    global movement toward greater democracy, prosperity, and common
    security.
        Your decision for democracy and cooperation has given us the
    opportunity to work together to fulfill the promise of our common
    victory over forces of fascism 50 years ago. I know that it was not an
    easy decision to make and that it is not always an easy decision to stay
    with. I know that you in Russia will have to chart your own democratic
    course based on your own traditions and culture, as well as on the
    common challenges we face.
        We Americans have now spent over 200 years setting our own course.
    Along the way we have endured deep divisions and one Civil War. We have
    made mistakes at home and in our relations with other people. At times
    we have fallen short of our own ideals. Our system can sometimes seem
    unnecessarily burdened by divisions and constraint. But as Winston
    Churchill once said, ``Democracy is the worst system of government,
    except for all the others.'' It has produced more prosperity, more
    security, and more opportunity for self-fulfillment than all of its
    competitors in the entire world in the last 200 years.
        The United States supports the forces of democracy and reform here
    in Russia because it is in our national interest to do so. I have worked
    hard to make this post-cold-war world a safer and more hopeful place for
    the American people. As President, that is my job. That is every
    President's job. But I have had the opportunity, unlike my recent
    predecessors, to work with Russia instead of being in opposition to
    Russia. And I want to keep it that way.
        I am proud that for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear
    age, no Russian missiles are pointed at the children of America. And now
    that I am here, I might paraphrase what your Foreign Minister told me in
    Washington last month: I am also proud that no American missiles are
    pointed at you or me for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear
    age.
        Both our nations are destroying thousands of nuclear weapons at a
    faster rate than our treaties require. We have removed the last nuclear
    weapons from Kazakhstan, and Ukraine and Belarus will soon follow. We
    are cooperating with you to prevent nuclear weapons and bomb-making
    materials from falling into the hands of terrorists and smugglers. We
    are working together to extend indefinitely the Nuclear Non-
    Proliferation Treaty, the cornerstone of our efforts to stop the spread
    of nuclear weapons.
        Your progress on the economic front is also important. I have seen
    reports that more than 60 percent of your economy is now in private
    hands. Inflation is dropping, and your government is taking sensible
    steps to control its budget deficit. Managers work to satisfy customers
    and to make profits. Employees, more and more, search for the best jobs
    at the highest wages. And every day, despite hardship and uncertainty,
    more and more Russian people are able to make decisions in free markets
    rather than having their choices dictated to them.
        We have supported these reforms. They are good for you, but they are
    also good for the United States and for the rest of the world, for they
    bring us together and move us forward.
        I know there are severe problems. There are severe problems in your
    transition to a market economy. I know, too, that in anywhere free
    markets exist, they do not solve all social problems. They require
    policies that can ensure economic fairness and basic human decency to
    those who need and deserve help.
        Finally, I know that all democracies, the United States included,
    face new challenges from the emergence of the global economy and the
    information age, as well as from the threats posed by the proliferation
    of weapons of mass destruction, by organized crime, and by terrorism.
    But the answer is not to back away from democracy or to go back to
    isolation. The answer is not to go back to defining your national
    interest in terms that make others less secure. The answer is to stay on
    this course, to reap the full benefits of democracy, and to work on

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    these problems with those of us who have a stake in your success,
    because your success makes us safer and more prosperous as well.
        That success, I believe, depends upon three things: first,
    continuing to strengthen your democracy; second, improving your economy
    and reducing social and economic problems; and third, establishing your
    role in the world in a way that enhances your economic and national
    security interests, not at the expense of your friends and neighbors but
    in cooperation with them.
        First, the work of building democracy never ends. The democratic
    system can never be perfected, because human beings are not perfect. In
    America today, we are engaged in a renewed debate over which decisions
    should be made by our National Government and which ones should be made
    locally or by private citizens on their own, unimpeded by Government. We
    argue today over the proper roles of the different branches of
    Government, and we argue over how we can be strengthened, not weakened,
    by the great diversity in our society. These are enduring challenges
    that all democracies face.
        But no element among them is more fundamental than the holding of
    free elections. In our meetings today, President Yeltsin once again
    pledged to keep on schedule both a new round of parliamentary elections
    in December and the Presidential election next June. He has shown that
    he understands what has often been said about a new democracy: The
    second elections are even more important than the first, for the second
    elections establish a pattern of peaceful transition of power.
        Therefore, I urge all Russians who have the right to vote to
    exercise that vote this year and next year. Many people sacrificed so
    that you could have this power. I address that plea especially to the
    young people in this room and throughout your great nation. Your future
    is fully before you. And these elections will shape that future. Do not
    fall into the trap that I hear even in my own country of believing that
    your vote does not count. It does count. It will count if you cast it.
    And if you do not cast it, that will count for something, too. So I urge
    you to exercise the vote.
        But the heart of a democracy does not lie in the ballot box alone.
    That is why it is also important that your generation continue to demand
    and support a free and independent press. Again, this can be a
    difficult, even dangerous process, as the people in your press know all
    too well. Dmitriy Kholodov and Vladislav Listyev were murdered in
    pursuit of the truth, victims of their vigorous belief in the public's
    right to know. You must not allow those assassins who targeted them to
    steal from your people one of the essential freedoms of democracy, the
    freedom of the press.
        There is another challenge, a challenge of building tolerance, for
    tolerance, too, lies at the heart of any democracy. Few nations on Earth
    can rival Russia's vast human and natural resources or her diversity.
    Within your borders live more than 100 different ethnic groups. Scores
    of literary, cultural, and artistic traditions thrive among your people.
    And in the last few years, millions have returned to their faiths,
    seeking refuge in their stability and finding hope in their teachings.
    These are vital signs of democracy taking root.
        Given your nation's great diversity, it would have been easy along
    this path to surrender to the cries of extremists who in the name of
    patriotism have tried to rally support by stirring up fear among
    different peoples. But you have embraced, instead, the cause of
    tolerance. The vast majority of Russians have rejected those poisonous
    arguments and bolstered your young, fragile democracy.
        When Americans and others in the West look back on the events of the
    last 4 years, we are struck by the remarkably peaceful nature of your
    revolutionary transition. Your accomplishment, to go through a massive
    social and political upheaval and the breakup of an empire with so
    little brutality and bloodshed, has few precedents in history. Your
    restraint was a critical factor in paving the way for Russia to take its
    place in the global community, a modern state at peace with itself and
    its neighbors.
        Now, it is against this backdrop, this great achievement, that we
    Americans have viewed the tragedy in Chechnya. As I told President
    Yeltsin earlier today, this terrible tragedy must be brought to a rapid
    and peaceful conclusion. Continued fighting in that region can only
    spill more blood and further erode support for Russia among her
    neighbors around the world.
        Holding free elections, ensuring a free and independent press,
    promoting tolerance of diversity, these are some of the difficult tasks
    of building a democracy. They are all important.

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        But these efforts also depend upon your economic reforms. Your
    efforts on the political front will benefit from efforts on the economic
    front that generate prosperity and give people a greater stake in a
    democratic future.
        To too many people in this country I know that economic reform has
    come to mean hardship, uncertainty, crime, and corruption. Profitable
    enterprises once owned by the state have been moved into private hands,
    sometimes under allegedly questionable circumstances. The demands of
    extortionists have stopped some would-be entrepreneurs from even going
    into business. And when the heavy hand of totalitarianism was lifted
    from your society, many structures necessary for a free market to take
    shape were not there, and organized crime was able to move into the
    vacuum.
        These are real and urgent concerns. They demand an all-out battle to
    create a market based on law, not lawlessness, a market that rewards
    merit, not malice. Economic reform must not be an excuse for the
    privileged and the strong to prey upon the weak.
        To help your government break the power of those criminals, our
    Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened an office here in Moscow. And
    we are cooperating with your government's attempts to strengthen the
    integrity of your markets.
        Pressures in the market economy are also leaving some people behind,
    people whose needs are not being met and who are not able to compete and
    win, while some of the richest are said to pay no taxes at all. Those
    Russians who lose their jobs or who live in poverty deserve an economic
    and social safety net that is strong enough to break their fall and keep
    them going until they can get back on their feet.
        Finally, market economies require discipline. Cutting inflation
    helps families struggling to become members of the new Russian middle
    class so they need not fear the future. Continuing your country's recent
    record of more realistic budgets is vital to achieving long-term
    economic stability. I say this from experience. From the beginning of my
    administration I have pursued these goals, because even though they
    require some sacrifice in the short term, they promise lasting economic
    growth that will benefit all of our people and yours as well.
        The transition to a more honest and open market economy requires
    time. New problems will appear as your economy gains ground. But in the
    midst of the pain, I would urge you also to see the promise. Countries
    that were in economic ruin at the end of World War II today rank among
    the world's most dynamic nations because they have made a market economy
    and democracy work.
        Finally, Russia's success at political and economic reform at home
    requires an approach to the world that reinforces your progress and
    enhances your security. Russia and the United States must work together
    in this regard. We must work for our common security. More than anything
    else, that is what my meeting with President Yeltsin today was all
    about, and we made progress in many areas. I would like to report them
    to you.
        First, Russia agreed to implement its Partnership For Peace with
    NATO. And I agreed now to press NATO to begin talks on a special
    relationship with Russia.
        The United States has made it clear that we favor a strong
    continuing NATO, that any admission of new members be based on the
    principles we have articulated along with our partners. It must be
    gradual and deliberate and open and consistent with the security
    interests of all of our partners for peace, including Russia.
        My goal since I became President has been to use the fact that the
    cold war is over to unify Europe for the first time in its history. And
    that is what we must all be working for. President Yeltsin's decision to
    join the Partnership For Peace will support that move toward security
    and unity.
        Second, the United States strongly believes that there should be no
    future nuclear cooperation with Iran. We believe that is in Russia's
    interest. Today President Yeltsin said that Russia would not sell
    enrichment technology or training to Iran because that could clearly be
    used to develop a nuclear capacity. And that should be more important to
    you than to us because you are closer to Iran than we are. I gave
    President Yeltsin some intelligence that the United States Government
    has that we believe supports the proposition that no nuclear cooperation
    in the future, not even the light water reactors, should proceed. And
    the two of us agreed to ask the special commission headed by Prime
    Minister Chernomyrdin and Vice President Gore to look into this matter
    further.
        On the outstanding issues of arms sales to Iran, we reached
    agreement with Russia which

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    will now permit Russia, your country, to be one of the founding members
    of the so-called post-COCOM regime, an agreement among nations to limit
    the sales of all dangerous weapons around the world in ways that will
    increase your security and ours.
        Next, we agreed to immediately work to see if we could get our
    respective parliamentary bodies to ratify the START II treaty this year
    so that we could continue to reduce our nuclear arsenals and, after
    START II is ratified, to consider further reductions in the nuclear
    arsenals of the United States and Russia to make your future safer. We
    also agreed to a statement of principles on one of the most difficult
    issues in our security relationship, how we define so-called theater
    missile defenses in the context of our Antiballistic Missile Treaty--
    designed, again, to make us both safer.
        Next, we agreed to begin visits to our biological weapons
    installations this August as part of our continued commitment to reduce
    the threat of biological and chemical weapons proliferation throughout
    the world. And if you consider what recently happened, the terrible
    incident in the subway in Japan, our future security and your future
    security is threatened not only by nuclear weapons but by the potential
    of biological and chemical weapons falling into the wrong hands as well.
        And finally, in the wake of all those incidents, the problems in
    Russia with organized crime, and the awful tragedy that we had in our
    country in Oklahoma City, the United States and Russia agreed that we
    must work much harder in sharing information, sharing technology,
    sharing research in the areas of combating terrorism and organized
    crime.
        This meeting was a success because every one of those decisions will
    give you and your counterparts in the United States a safer future. And
    we need to do more of this kind of work together.
        As we close the door on this 20th century, the bloodiest century in
    the history of the world, I am convinced that the next century and your
    most productive years will be the most exciting time, the time most full
    of possibility in all history. The global economy, the explosion of
    information, the incredible advances in technology, the ability of
    people to move rapidly across large spaces, all of these trends are
    bringing us into a more integrated world. But we must all realize that
    these forces of integration have a dark underside.
        In the 21st century, we will face new and different security
    threats. In the 21st century, I predict to you, there will be no world
    war to write about between nations fighting over territory. I predict to
    you that there will not be a new great colossus killing tens of millions
    of its own citizens to maintain control. I believe the battles of the
    21st century will be against the organized forces of destruction that
    can cross national lines or threaten us from within our borders. We see
    these forces in the bombing of the World Trade Center, in the terrible
    tragedy in Oklahoma City in the United States. We see it in the bombings
    on the streets in Israel, designed to kill the peace process in the
    Middle East. We see it in that terrible gas attack in the Tokyo subway.
    We see it in the problems that you and so many other nations have with
    organized crime.
        The more open and flexible our societies are, the more our people
    are able to move freely without restraint, the greater we are exposed to
    those kinds of threats. And so we must become more and more vigilant. We
    must work together to defeat these new security threats, for in this new
    century, the world wants and needs strong democratic countries where
    people are truly free and secure. And this world needs a strong and
    democratic Russia to help meet these challenges.
        It is in that context that I have pledged to President Yeltsin we
    will continue to work on all the issues between us. And it is in that
    context that I urged the President to have no future nuclear cooperation
    with Iran.
        Think about the future that we have together. We have already
    witnessed what Russia can do on the world stage when it is completely
    engaged and committed to democracy. From the Near East to as far away as
    El Salvador, America and the world have been made more secure by Russian
    leadership and cooperation. As Russia takes her rightful place, we
    believe that the trends toward democracy and economic freedom and
    tolerance must and will continue.
        Yesterday your nation looked back at 50 years and paid homage to the
    heroes of World War II. Today let us look ahead 50 years to the next
    century when your children and your grandchildren will recall those who
    stood against the coups, who voted in free elections, who claimed their
    basic human rights and liberties

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    which had been so long denied, those who made Russia a full partner in
    the global march toward freedom and prosperity and security. They will
    look back, and they will be grateful.
        I know there are some in this country who do not favor this course.
    And believe me, there are some people in my country who do not believe
    that you will follow this course. They predict that, instead, you will
    repeat the patterns of the past. Well, of course the outcome is not
    assured; nothing in human affairs is certain. But I believe those
    negative voices are mistaken.
        All sensible people understand the enormous challenges you face, but
    if there is one constant element in your history, it is the strength and
    resilience of the Russian people. You have survived in this century
    devastating losses in two World Wars that would have broken weaker
    spirits. You succeeded in bringing an end to a communist system and to a
    cold war that had dominated human affairs for decades. You have ushered
    in a new era of freedom. And you can go the rest of the way.
        In the future, your progress may well be measured not by glorious
    victories but by gradual improvements. And therefore, in your efforts
    you will need time and patience, two virtues that Leo Tolstoy called the
    strongest of all warriors.
        You must know in this endeavor that you will not be alone, for
    Russians and Americans share this bond. We both must learn from our
    past, and we both must find the courage to change to make the future
    that our children deserve. For the sake of your generation and
    generations to come, I believe we will all rise to the challenge.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 6:12 p.m. in the Main Hall at the
    university. In his remarks, he referred to Viktor Antonovich Sadovnichy,
    rector of the university; Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev of Russia; and
    journalist Dmitriy Kholodov and television personality Vladislav
    Listyev, who were assassinated in Russia. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of these remarks.