[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[October 23, 1995]
[Pages 1661-1663]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1661]]


The President's News Conference With President Boris Yeltsin of Russia 
in Hyde Park, New York
October 23, 1995

    President Clinton. We don't have prepared statements, but we will 
each make a very brief statement, and then we'll take a couple of 
questions.
    This was our eighth visit as heads of state. It was a good and 
productive one which emphasized the stability and the strength of the 
partnership between the United States and Russia.
    We spent the vast majority of our time discussing Bosnia, and we 
reached complete agreement about how we would work together for peace 
there. We reached agreement on the importance of the involvement of 
Russia and the other Contact Group partners in the peace process. On the 
question of what our roles would be in the implementation of a peace 
agreement, we made some progress, and we agreed that our 
representatives, Secretary Perry and Minister Grachev, would continue to 
work on this in the coming days, literally in just a matter of days.
    We discussed a number of other issues. I think I should mention 
three very briefly. First, we agreed that we would both push hard for 
the ratification of START II. Second, we agreed that we would continue 
our close cooperation on nuclear security, and we have a statement that 
we have already agreed on prepared by our experts which will be released 
today. And finally, we agreed--and this is very, very important--that we 
would work together to succeed in getting a zero-yield comprehensive 
test ban treaty next year. This is a major, major step, and it 
dramatically increases the chances of our success for a sweeping 
comprehensive test ban treaty in 1996. And I want to thank President 
Yeltsin for that.
    Mr. President.
    President Yeltsin. Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear journalists: I 
want to say, first of all, that when I came here to the United States 
for this visit at the invitation of the President of the United States, 
Bill Clinton, I did not at that time have the degree of optimism with 
which I now am departing.
    And this is all due to you because, coming from my statement 
yesterday in the United Nations, and if you looked at the press reports, 
one could see that what you were writing was that today's meeting with 
President Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. [Laughter] Well, now 
for the first time, I can tell you that you're a disaster. [Laughter]
    President Clinton. Be sure you get the right attribution there. 
[Laughter]
    President Yeltsin. This proves that our partnership is not 
calculated for one year or for 5 years but for years and years to come--
tens of years, for a century; that we're friends, and that it's only 
together, together we're going to be trying to solve not only our joint 
bilateral issues but issues affecting the whole world.
    How many journalists' brains are used to constantly try to figure 
out what kinds of different versions and options the two Presidents are 
going to try to come up with regarding Bosnia? I can't say that your 
brains turned out to be useless--[laughter]--of course, you also helped 
us, and we are grateful. And so you did help us because when Bill and I 
sat down to look at the different options, we used even some of your 
seemingly most unbelievable options. [Laughter]
    Bill said also that we agreed on nuclear disarmament. We agreed on a 
whole host of issues, not just those that affect our two countries but 
that affect all the countries of the world. Bill neglected to say we 
also came to terms on the flank limits that have been placed. And I want 
to say a big, big thank you to Bill for supporting us so strongly on 
this score.
    I want to say a big, big thank you, Bill, for inviting me here to 
this most magnificent site. If all of you look around you, look behind 
you--the most incredible scenery--you will find this a most lovely place 
to host such a meeting. I want to thank Bill from the bottom of my 
heart, to bow my head before all of the people, the people who work 
here, who support this wonderful museum, the staff who made this visit 
so wonderful, all of you who support not only the museum but also the 
persona, the personality of President Roosevelt, the one who was a 
personality not only for the United States but for all the peoples of 
the world for all time.

[[Page 1662]]

I do want to bow my head and thank all of you for this wonderful 
occasion.
    So with this, I want to stop with my introductory remarks. We'll 
have just a couple of questions. And as soon as we start we're going to 
finish, so very short. First question to the President of the United 
States.

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, could you tell us what progress----
    Q. Could you tell us----
    Q. Could you tell us, Mr. President--President Yeltsin, are Russians 
now willing to work under the command and control of NATO in a 
peacekeeping mission in Bosnia? And then a followup for President 
Clinton.
    President Clinton. I understand that, but let me just say first, we 
agreed that it was important for Russia to participate in the 
implementation of the agreement. We discussed some specifics on which we 
were in accord and some on which we agreed that we had to let our 
defense experts work. And we decided that we would say nothing here 
which would make their work any harder than it already is.

Russia-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. Clinton, as the Russian press, we'd like to ask you the 
following question. You were saying that not only has it not caved in, 
our partnership has not caved in but it has become stronger and better. 
Does that indicate that Russia and the United States will be for the 
future generations the guarantor of peace, that there will be no wars?
    President Yeltsin. With the faith of two big Presidents like us, our 
faith is getting stronger. And with this faith, it means that we have 
decided that there shall be no disagreement between our two countries, 
that our partnership will in fact be strengthened, and having this faith 
means that we will move into the future toward peace, either with no war 
or a minimum of war.

Bosnia

    Q. Could we get the answer to President Yeltsin's original question, 
and that is whether or not he could ever accept the idea of Russian 
forces being under a NATO command? And for those of us in this country 
who've followed this dispute, it is difficult to understand how you 
could have made progress given how different your positions have been in 
the past, and especially after what you said at the United Nations 
yesterday.
    President Yeltsin. We agreed today that Russian armed forces will 
participate in these operations. But how they go about doing it is the 
affair of the military; it is not a question for us two Presidents. We 
have done our task.

Russia-U.S. Relations

    Q. How would you characterize, President Yeltsin, the way the talks 
went today, as a whole, in general?
    President Yeltsin. When I came here I thought we were going to have 
very, very tough meetings. I was not looking forward to the very 
difficult, complicated discussions. I had a lot of apprehensions. 
However, on my way here, I flew into Paris, had detailed talks with 
Jacques Chirac. On the phone I had discussions with Helmut Kohl. I met 
also very actively with other leaders. President Bill Clinton was very 
active in meeting with world leaders.
    And in spite of the forecasts that said that this would be a 
breakdown, that this would not be a success, this turns out to be today 
the friendliest meeting, the best meeting, the most understandable 
meeting, not only for each other but for all the people of the world.
    And we discussed individual positions; then we arrived at common 
positions. And I must say that this kind of meeting is not an official 
summit, it is a working meeting. But this most successful working 
meeting is worthy of meetings that would last hundreds of days, and 
these big issues, global issues that affect the lives of all the peoples 
on this planet.
    President Clinton. I'll take one more question, but I'd like to say 
something about your question as well. If I could speak directly to the 
Russian people, I would say that the United States and Russia have 
established an important partnership. It's a partnership of mutual 
respect based on a shared commitment to democracy, a shared commitment 
to working for the prosperity of the Russian people, and ultimately a 
partnership which helps us both economically and, perhaps most 
important, working together to make the 21st century a time of greater 
peace and greater freedom and greater prosperity for all the people of 
the world.
    That is the larger truth in which all these issues should be seen. 
That is why we have made such remarkable progress in dealing with

[[Page 1663]]

the nuclear issues. There is no relationship between two human beings, 
much less two countries, with their own unique histories, their own 
unique aspirations, their own unique fears and understandings, that does 
not have occasional differences of opinion. That would happen in any 
friendship, in any marriage, in any business; certainly it will happen 
between two countries. But if we keep the larger truth in mind, we will 
be able to work together and sustain this partnership. And it is very 
important for our people and for the people of the world that we do so.
    Interpreter. Thank you very much.
    President Clinton. They cut it, sorry.
    President Yeltsin. Thank you.
    President Clinton. Well, I promised him one more. Go ahead. Boris--
President Yeltsin insisted that an American have the last question, so 
go ahead.

Bosnia

    Q. Mr. President, members of your administration said coming into 
this meeting that a Bosnia peacekeeping operation in which Russian 
forces were not under NATO command and control or there was some type of 
dual key arrangement wouldn't work. Is that still the U.S. position?
    President Clinton. Our position is that we're going to have an 
operation that works. We want Russia to be involved in it. We made some 
progress today consistent with both of our objectives, with neither side 
giving up the things that were most important to it. We made some 
progress today on that. And we recognized that some of the things that 
needed to be decided neither of us could in good conscience decide 
without giving our military leaders the chance to work through that. So 
we agreed that this week, this week, our military leaders would keep 
working.
    That is all I can tell you; the more we say about it, the worse it 
will be. We are moving toward peace. The first and most important thing 
is, make peace in Bosnia. That has not been done yet. If that happens--
and we hope it will, and we've agreed on that completely, how we will 
approach it--then we have the responsibility to work together to make 
the peace work. And we will do that.
    President Yeltsin. I want to add, you are underestimating the 
Presidents of two such great powers. Maybe something didn't quite reach 
you. Maybe you can't quite figure out how we can solve it, but it came 
to us; it reached us.

Note: The President's 104th news conference began at 3:44 p.m. on the 
front steps of the Franklin D. Roosevelt home. In his remarks, he 
referred to Russian Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev. President Yeltsin 
spoke in Russian, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter.