[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[June 20, 1999]
[Pages 976-977]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Joint Statement Between the United States and the Russian Federation 
Concerning Strategic Offensive and Defensive Arms and Further 
Strengthening of Stability
June 20, 1999

    Confirming their dedication to the cause of strengthening strategic 
stability and international security, stressing the importance of 
further reduction of strategic offensive arms, and recognizing the 
fundamental importance of the Treaty on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Systems (ABM Treaty) for the attainment of these goals, the 
United States of America and the Russian Federation declare their 
determination to continue efforts directed at achieving meaningful 
results in these areas.
    The two governments believe that strategic stability can be 
strengthened only if there is compliance with existing agreements 
between the Parties on limitation and reduction of arms. The two 
governments will do everything in their power to facilitate the 
successful completion of the START II ratification processes in both 
countries.
    The two governments reaffirm their readiness, expressed in Helsinki 
in March 1997, to conduct new negotiations on strategic offensive arms 
aimed at further reducing for each side the level of strategic nuclear 
warheads, elaborating measures of transparency concerning existing 
strategic nuclear warheads and their elimination, as well as other 
agreed technical and organizational measures in order to contribute to 
the irreversibility of deep reductions including prevention of a rapid 
build-up in the numbers of warheads and to contribute through all this 
to the strengthening of strategic stability in the world. The two 
governments will strive to accomplish the important task of achieving 
results in these negotiations as early as possible.
    Proceeding from the fundamental significance of the ABM Treaty for 
further reductions in strategic offensive arms, and from the need to 
maintain the strategic balance between the United States of America and 
the Russian Federation, the Parties reaffirm their commitment to that 
Treaty, which is a cornerstone of strategic stability, and to continuing 
efforts to strengthen the Treaty, to enhance its viability and 
effectiveness in the future.
    The United States of America and the Russian Federation, recalling 
their concern about the proliferation in the world of weapons of mass 
destruction and their means of delivery, including missiles and missile 
technologies, expressed by them in the Joint Statement on Common 
Security Challenges at the Threshold of the Twenty First Century, 
adopted on September 2, 1998 in Moscow, stress their common desire to 
reverse that process using to this end the

[[Page 977]]

existing and possible new international legal mechanisms.
    In this regard, both Parties affirm their existing obligations under 
Article XIII of the ABM Treaty to consider possible changes in the 
strategic situation that have a bearing on the ABM Treaty and, as 
appropriate, possible proposals for further increasing the viability of 
this Treaty.
    The Parties emphasize that the package of agreements signed on 
September 26, 1997 in New York is important under present conditions for 
the effectiveness of the ABM Treaty, and they will facilitate the 
earliest possible ratification and entry into force of those agreements.
    The implementation of measures to exchange data on missile launches 
and on early warning and to set up an appropriate joint center, recorded 
in the Joint Statement by the Presidents of the United States of America 
and the Russian Federation signed on September 2, 1998 in Moscow, will 
also promote the strengthening of strategic stability.
    Discussions on START III and the ABM Treaty will begin later this 
summer. The two governments express their confidence that implementation 
of this Joint Statement will be a new significant step to enhance 
strategic stability and the security of both nations.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.