[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

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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

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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.