    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 20, 1999]
    [Pages 973-976]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 973]]

    Interview With Yevgeniy Kiselev of Russia's
    NTV in Cologne
    June 20, 1999

        Mr. Kiselev. Mr. President, hello, and let me express my gratitude
    for your interview.
        The President. Thank you very much. I'm glad to do it.

    Russian Participation in KFOR

        Mr. Kiselev. And let me start with this question. For the past week
    and a half, relations between Russia and the West have been complicated
    by the unexpected deployment of the Russian peacekeepers to Pristina.
    What was at the heart of the disagreement between Moscow and the West
    regarding Russia's participation in KFOR? How did you overcome this
    disagreement?
        The President. Well, first of all, let me say that this entire
    difficulty in Kosovo has been a great test for the relationship between
    the United States and Russia, but it is a test, I believe, that both
    countries have passed--on your part, thanks to the leadership of
    President Yeltsin and the work that our
    foreign ministers and defense ministers have done, the work that Prime
    Minister Stepashin has done.
        I don't know that there ever was much disagreement about Russian
    participation. I said from the beginning that I strongly felt in order
    for the peacekeeping force to have credibility and full impact, Russia
    would have to be a very important part of it. And the agreement we have
    reached regarding Russian involvement in terms of leadership over the
    airport and being involved here in three different sectors I think will
    enable all of us to achieve our objectives: to bring the Kosovars home
    in peace and security, and to make sure that the Serb minority as well
    as the Kosovo Albanian majority are both treated freely and fairly.

    Meeting With President Boris Yeltsin of Russia

        Mr. Kiselev. Today, Mr. President, you met with Russian President
    Yeltsin. What questions did you discuss, and what did you manage to
    agree on?
        The President. First of all, we discussed Kosovo. We talked about
    what a difficult challenge it had been to our relationship, and we both
    committed to implement our agreement in good faith in a way that will, I
    think, reflect credit on the leadership and greatness of Russia and the
    Russian people, and on those of us who are working with Russia in
    Kosovo.
        Secondly, we discussed the importance of continuing our efforts to
    reduce the nuclear threat and the threat of proliferation of missile
    technology. And we agreed to work together on that. Among other things,
    President Yeltsin said that he hoped that START II would be ratified by
    the Duma, and that we would begin soon parallel discussions on START III
    to take our nuclear arsenals down even more and on the ABM Treaty.
        Then, the third thing we discussed was the need to do more to try to
    support economic development in Russia, to get Russia qualified in the
    IMF program and, of course, that requires some action in the Duma. And I
    expressed my strong support for IMF assistance to Russia, as well as for
    help on the Soviet-era debt problem and some other things that can be
    done, I believe, to boost Russian economic prospects and help the lives
    of ordinary citizens in Russia, which all of us think is very, very
    important.
        Mr. Kiselev. Mr. President, let me ask you this. Both in Russia and
    in the West, the question of Yeltsin's health, President Yeltsin's
    health constantly comes up. How did you find Mr. Yeltsin today?
        The President. Today he was strong, clear, alert, vigorous. He
    stated Russia's case very forcefully on every issue, and we did what we
    have done in all of our meetings--we've now had 17 meetings in the last
    6\1/2\ years. We had an agenda; we reached agreements; and we committed
    to go forward. So I would say, today he did very, very well.
        He has acknowledged from time to time that he's had some health
    problems, but in all of my conversations with him about Kosovo, and
    especially today, I found him to be alert and very much on top of his
    responsibilities.

    Russia-U.S. Relations

        Mr. Kiselev. Mr. President, let me ask you about this. NATO's
    operation in the Balkans has led to manifestations of anti-Western and
    anti-American sentiments in Russia. What are you planning to do to
    improve America's image

    [[Page 974]]

    in Russia's eyes, and what kind of specific concrete steps will you take
    to improve relations between Russia and the U.S.?
        The President. Well, first, I hope that this interview will help to
    some extent by giving me the opportunity to clarify my country's
    position and our commitment to a strong, successful, democratic Russia,
    fully participating in world affairs and a leadership role, and fully
    integrated into Europe in the major economic and political institutions
    that will be so important to the welfare of ordinary Russian citizens in
    the new century.
        Second, I think that as we work together in Kosovo and as you are
    able to bring to the Russian people the facts of the horrible atrocities
    committed against the Kosovars by Mr. Milosevic's forces, the nightmares that are so much like what we
    saw in Bosnia before the United States and Russia and others went in
    there, at least perhaps the Russian people will understand what was
    behind what we were doing. We sought no political or economic advantage,
    we sought no change in the balance of power worldwide. We were only
    trying to reverse ethnic cleansing and genocide. And now it is something
    we are doing together with the Russian forces. So I hope that will help.
        And finally, I think it's very important that we get back to our
    larger agenda: to reducing the nuclear threat and the burden and--it
    imposes on Russian as well as American people; to reducing the threat of
    the proliferation of dangerous weapons technology; and to building up
    the Russian economy in ways that benefit ordinary Russian citizens.
    These are things that are in the interest of the American people, things
    we are deeply committed to.
        And I believe as we continue to work on these things together, I
    would hope that the feeling the Russian people have for the American
    people in the United States will warm up again, because we strongly want
    our partnership with Russia to endure and to be felt in the hearts of
    ordinary citizens in both countries.

    Aftermath of Situation in the Balkans

        Mr. Kiselev. Mr. President, with regard to NATO's operation in the
    Balkans, let me ask you this--this question is asked by many people
    nowadays. Does it not seem to you that the actions of the United States
    and NATO show some sort of double standard--I mean, that America doesn't
    act, say, in the Balkans the same way as it does in Kurdistan or Rwanda
    and other regions of the world where authorities are conducting a policy
    of genocide or national oppression of minorities?
        The President. First, let me say----
        Mr. Kiselev. Will NATO be just as--I'm sorry to interrupt you----
        The President. Yes?
        Mr. Kiselev. ----will NATO be just as firm with the KLA, for
    example, as it has been against Serb forces if they try to take over
    Kosovo or endanger the Serb population?
        The President. The answer to the last question has to be yes, and a
    strong yes. Our commitment, as I said from the beginning, is a Kosovo in
    which no innocent civilians were subject to death, uprooting, or
    oppression. Our commitment, therefore, now must be to give equal
    protection to all the innocent civilian citizens of Kosovo. And I would
    just note that KLA has agreed now to demilitarize, to give up its large
    weapons, to suspend any kind of military operations or training,
    including even the wearing of the uniforms. So we will have to be
    vigilant, but I am pleased with the progress of that.
        And I want to say again, I am committed to protecting all the people
    of Kosovo, and one of the reasons that I wanted the Russians to come in
    and first have a partnership is so that the Serbs, as well as the
    Kosovar Albanians, would feel that the KFOR force was committed to their
    protection and that they would all try to live together again. It's
    going to be hard; a lot of horrible, horrible things have occurred. But
    we will work with them and we will do our best to help reconcile the
    civilians who had no role in the wrongdoing, to help them reconcile to
    one another.

    Response to Genocide and Minority Oppression

        Mr. Kiselev. And as far as the first part of my question?
        The President. The first part of your question, I have spoken to
    quite extensively in America. First, America did actually play a very
    major role in preserving an area of protection for the Kurds in northern
    Iraq for several years after the Gulf war. And we have, several times,
    intervened to try to help protect the Kurds and will continue to be
    sensitive to that.
        Secondly, I have said repeatedly that the slaughter of the Rwandans,
    the genocide in Rwanda occurred in the short space of about 100 days,
    and we were caught flat-footed. I feel

    [[Page 975]]

    terrible that we did nothing. And I would hope that if anything like
    that develops in Africa again that the United States and Russia, indeed,
    all the major powers of the United Nations would move aggressively to
    try to stop it.
        We should not countenance genocide or ethnic cleansing anywhere in
    the world if we have the power to stop it. That's not to say that we can
    expect all people of all different ethnic groups to always like each
    other and never even to fight. But when innocent civilians are subject
    to mass slaughter and ethnic cleansing, if we can stop it, we should.

    Russian Role in Balkan Peace Negotiations

        Mr. Kiselev. Let me ask you about the role of Russia in the Balkans
    peace deal more in detail. There are basically two views. Some believe
    that NATO was forced to turn to Russia for help because only Russia
    could sit down with both sides and convince Milosevic to accept the
    peace deal. Others believe that the West could have avoided turning out
    Russia and only did so out of good will and a desire to preserve
    Russia's role in the Balkans. What is your point of view?
        The President. I would say there's a little bit of both there. The
    United States and the other NATO authorities do view Russia with good
    will, not ill will, and we do want and believe Russia should
    appropriately have a role in the Balkans. But also, I always believed if
    we were going to get a diplomatic solution here, we had to have Russia's
    involvement.
        Keep in mind, before the bombing began, for 14 months we worked
    closely with the Russians to try to find a diplomatic solution in the
    Balkans, because we knew that Russia's positive influence would be
    essential. Then, when it appeared that the diplomatic solution might be
    possible and could bring an end to the bombing and bring the Kosovars
    home, President Yeltsin was willing to appoint
    Mr. Chernomyrdin.
        He then came to us and made it clear
    that he would like someone who could represent the rest of Europe in
    these negotiations, and President Ahtisaari
    of Finland became his partner. And I believe that the Russian people
    should be very, very proud of the role, the indispensable role that
    Russia played in these diplomatic negotiations, and the role of Mr.
    Chernomyrdin in particular. He and President Ahtisaari did a very, very
    good job, and it's something that I think is a great credit to Russia
    and to the people of Russia.

    G-8 Summit/Financial Aid to Russia

        Mr. Kiselev. And there's probably now one last topic that I wanted
    to dwell upon. Today is the last day of the G-8 summit. The Western
    press usually refers to it as G-7-plus-Russia, even though more than a
    year ago in Birmingham, Russia was officially admitted, accepted to the
    club of the world leading nations. Is Russia, in fact, a full-fledged
    member of the G-8, or is it still early to talk seriously about this
    because of Russia's economic weakness? And is the U.S. going to pressure
    the IMF to provide credits to Russia, and is the U.S. going to help
    Russia's economy apart from IMF?
        The President. Let me try to answer all of your questions. There is
    a G-8 now, not a G-7-plus-one. It is a G-8; Russia is a full member.
        Mr. Kiselev. Please do it.
        The President. The communique that we issued today, which covers a
    wide range of economic and social issues, was fully participated in by
    Russia. The Russians had a full hand, along with all the rest of us, in
    developing this communique. And President Yeltsin was at the meeting today when the leaders went over the
    sections and, in effect, ratified and said we wanted it out there. So I
    think you can feel quite good about that and about the fact that there
    is a G-8 and Russia is a full member of it.
        Secondly, you ask about the future and whether we would pressure the
    IMF to help Russia. The answer is that we have always strongly, strongly
    supported IMF assistance to Russia. We also strongly, however, support
    the changes that the Duma has been asked to make in order to give Russia
    a competitive world economy. Because no matter how much the IMF tries to
    help Russia, unless your country has made the basic changes that every
    country must make to compete in the global economy, the private money
    will not flow into Russia that will really bring it back to the position
    that the Russian people deserve and that, frankly, the rest of the world
    needs. It's very much in the interest of the United States to have an
    economically successful, strong, prosperous Russia. And I will do
    everything I can to that end.
        And your third question was whether there were things apart from the
    IMF that we could do to help the Russian economy, and the answer

    [[Page 976]]

    to that is yes. And I discussed some of those with President
    Yeltsin today.
        I want you to understand that the United States believes that a
    strong and prosperous democratic Russia, actively involved with the rest
    of Europe, actively involved with the United States, actively working
    together in partnership to solve the world's problems, from terrorism to
    the threat of weapons of mass destruction to the need to stop ethnic
    cleansing--that this is in our interest. We do this because we genuinely
    want the Russian people to have a leading role in the world and to have
    personal prosperity, because we think it gives us a safer world and it's
    better for the American people.
        Mr. Kiselev. Mr. President, thank you for your time, thank you for
    your answers, and I wish you good luck.
        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The interview was videotaped at 5:16 p.m. in the Bibliotek Room at
    the Hyatt Regency Hotel for later broadcast in Russia. In his remarks,
    the President referred to Prime Minister Sergey Stepashin and former
    Prime Minister and Special Envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia;
    President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
    (Serbia and Montenegro); and President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland. A
    tape was not available for verification of the content of this
    interview.