[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
[June 4, 2000]
[Pages 1081-1085]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
The President's News Conference With President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow
June 4, 2000
President Putin. Good day, ladies and gentlemen. I will allow
myself to begin summing up our 2 days of work with our guests and
partners, with the President of the United States, Mr. Bill Clinton, and
members of his team. For 2 days now, we worked very intensively. And I
have to say right off the bat that both in terms of the spirit and the
quality of our talks, as well as the results, the Russian side cannot
but express its satisfaction.
We discussed issues of interest in our opinion not only to the
United States and the Russian Federation but to the other countries, as
well, on global matters--all of mankind's interest really lies here. We
discussed in great detail everything that had been done in this very
important--issues of interest to both of our sides, and that which have
been in the last several years. We agree that we're going to be acting
in this direction jointly in the future.
We discussed the issues of new global threats, threats such as
terrorism, narcotics, crime. We talked about issues which, to our mind,
have a certain solution; in the estimation of our American colleagues,
maybe have a different kind of a solution. We exchanged ideas and
opinions on issues to which we had different solutions in the past.
These talks were very candid, very open, and very topical.
As you know, with my colleague, with the President of the United
States, I signed several documents, including statements on security.
And many things are determined and defined there, and much is said in
these documents. The result I think can be summed up by saying that we
not only confirmed the high level of our relations, but we also
expressed the trend of the development of our relations between our two
countries for the near future.
I wanted to stress here, ladies and gentlemen, the following, that
over the last period of time, say a year or even more, the relations
between our two countries have been of a varied kind. At one time, we
had relations increasing and improving; then they would be falling. But
that high level which was reached over the last 8 years by the efforts
of the Russian leadership and of the administration of President Clinton
allowed us to always find a way out of these crises with honor, not only
to reestablish good relations but also to solve problems where we had
disagreements. And we really cherish this. I am pleased to note here
that in these very tough questions, we observed not only a desire to
speak but also to find joint and mutually beneficial solutions.
We discussed also topics that had to do with bilateral economic
interests. Here I wanted to
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say that the Russian Federation, in the face of your humble servant and
the Chairman of the Government, the Prime Minister, Mr. Kasyanov, the
leading ministers of the Government who participated and took part in
these talks and negotiations, not only informed and described to our
American guests what's happening economically in Russia today but also
discussed with our partners joint actions, joint activities, both of a
bilateral nature as well as within the framework of international
financial institutions.
I wanted to stress here as well that the Russian Federation aims not
only to go through its transformation, about which many people have so
much spoken, but very decisively to do so in a practical way. I mean
moving ahead on the tax code and moving ahead on production sharing.
Here we have some issues which we have not yet been able to resolve
between us and the State Duma, but I think these are rather technical
issues. I think, together with the Deputies in the State Duma, we're
going to be trying to find solutions and finally get this legislation.
We spoke about the upcoming international events, the Okinawa
summit, the Millennium summit in the United Nations in New York, the
Brunei meeting. In this way, Mr. Clinton and myself, we have reached an
accord on further joint progress along a whole series of issues, which
not only we discussed today and yesterday and which we will still have
an opportunity to discuss some more tomorrow, to move ahead on these
issues at the events that I have listed.
On behalf of the leadership of the Russian Federation, I want to
thank the American delegation not only for accepting our invitation and
coming to Russia but for a very constructive and businesslike discussion
in an attempt to find solutions.
Thank you so much for your attention.
President Clinton. I would like to first thank President Putin and
the Russian delegation for making us feel welcome and for these talks.
I have come to Moscow at an important time. Russia, after all, has a
new President, new government, new Duma. Its economy is showing
encouraging signs of growth. This gives Russia a pivotal opportunity to
build on the strong record of engagement between our two countries. It
is also an opportunity for the United States.
I welcome President Putin's interest in building a Russia that
enjoys the enduring strength of a stable democracy. President
Yeltsin led Russia to freedom. Under President
Putin, Russia has the chance to build prosperity and strength, while
safeguarding that freedom and the rule of law.
We've had good discussions both last night and today on a range of
common interests, including nonproliferation and arms control. We
expressed our differences with clarity and candor. And I, for one,
appreciate that. The importance of this relationship to ourselves and
the world demands that we take every opportunity we can to find common
ground and that, where we cannot find it, we express our differences
with clarity and candor.
I congratulated President Putin on the key role he played in the
Duma's ratification of START II and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
The United States ratified START II first, and I hope we will now follow
Russia in ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. I also look
forward to the ratification of the START II protocols by our Senate so
that we can get about the business of further reducing the number of
nuclear missiles that we have.
I am very pleased today we agreed on two other major steps to reduce
the nuclear danger. We reached an important agreement each to destroy 34
tons of military-grade plutonium, enough to make thousands of warheads--
this raw weapon material that will now never fall into the wrong hands.
We also agreed to establish a joint data exchange center in Moscow
to share early warning information on missile and space launches. This
is terribly important. It is the first permanent U.S.-Russia military
operation ever. In this new center, Russian and American military
officials will be working side by side, 24 hours a day, to monitor
missile warning information. It is a milestone in enhancing strategic
stability, and I welcome it.
The President and I also discussed our common commitment to prevent
the proliferation of missile technology and our determination to exert
firm control over exports of sensitive technology and strictly enforce
export control laws and regulations.
We discussed our common interest in commercial space cooperation,
including the successful joint venture that launches commercial
satellites. We agreed that our teams would soon
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meet to discuss future cooperation in the commercial space area, with
the aim of moving toward eliminating existing constraints on commercial
space launches.
We also had a thorough discussion of our work on the START III
treaty and the issue of national missile defense. We have agreed to a
statement of principles, which I urge you to read carefully. It makes
clear that there is an emerging ballistic missile threat that must be
addressed, though we have not yet agreed on how best to do so.
We have acknowledged that the ABM Treaty foresees the possibility of
changes in the strategic environment that might require it to be
updated. We have reaffirmed our commitment to pursue further reduction
in offensive arms in parallel with our discussions on defense systems,
underscoring the importance of the doctrines of strategic stability and
mutual deterrence as the foundation for this work.
We've asked our experts to keep working to narrow the differences
and to develop a series of cooperative measures to address the missile
threat. And we have agreed that we will continue to discuss it in our
next meeting.
We spent a large share of our time discussing economics. I'm
encouraged by the economic plan President Putin has outlined and by the
current recovery. I look forward to Russia's continuing to implement
proposed reforms that will actually make the recovery last, reforms such
as tax reform, anti-money-laundering legislation, strong property rights
protections.
I look forward to Russia's successful negotiations with the IMF.
This is a good economic team with a very good opportunity to increase
investment in Russia, both the return of money that Russians have placed
outside the country and new investments from other countries.
Later this month, our former Ambassador to Moscow, Bob
Strauss, will come to Russia with a
delegation of investors, including some of America's best-known chief
executive officers, to discuss opportunities in Russia and the steps
Russia is taking to improve its investment climate. I think this will be
only the beginning of a very successful effort at economic reform, if
the intentions that President Putin outlined become reality.
The President and I also discussed another area where we disagree,
Chechnya. I have restated the opposition that I have to a policy which
is well-known. Essentially, I believe a policy that causes so many
civilian casualties without a political solution ultimately cannot
succeed. I also urged President Putin to move forward with transparent
and impartial investigations of the stories of human rights violations
and to authorize a speedy return of the OSCE to the region.
Finally, I stressed to President Putin the importance the United
States places on protecting religious freedom and the rights of an
independent media. I strongly agree with what President Putin himself
has said, that Russia has no future if it suppresses civic freedoms and
the press.
We agreed to advance our technical cooperation on climate change. We
believe it's essential to complete work on the Kyoto Protocol, including
market mechanisms, to protect the environment, promote clean energy, and
reduce costs. I think Russia has a great economic opportunity here as
well as a great environmental one.
And on these issues, the President and I are asking the U.S.-Russia
binational commission, under the leadership of Vice President Gore and Prime Minister Kasyanov, to carry forward the work.
I was encouraged by our discussion, pleased with our agreements,
pleased with the candor and clarity of our disagreements. I am eager for
more progress. I'm also looking forward to the chance to talk to the
Russian people tonight, in a radio talk show, and tomorrow, as I have
the opportunity to speak to the Duma and the Federation Council.
Again, Mr. President, I thank you for this and especially for these
two agreements, and I look forward to our continued work together.
Russia-U.S. Relations
Q. The question to the President of Russia. What is the priority
you give to Russian-American relations in the world, and a world that,
as we see, is changing and forming in a different way?
Thank you.
President Putin. The history of relations of the former Soviet
Union and the United States of America, and now Russian Federation and
the United States--its history, as I've said, has many dramatic as well
as many positive elements. We were allies. There was a period of time
when we suffered through confrontation between our two sides. One would
hope that
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the very worst in our relations is far, far behind us.
For today, the United States is one of our main partners. And as far
as Russia is concerned, it will never make the choice regarding the
United States in order to start once again confrontation. Never. We are
for cooperation. We are for coming to agreement on problems that might
arise.
And naturally, problems like this exist and have existed and
probably will exist. That is not important. What's important is that the
approach to finding a solution is only one--it's unique--it cannot be
aimed at destroying everything positive that has been achieved in the
recent past but also looking into the future. And this kind of chance
and this intention among the leadership of Russia, as well as I
understand it, among the leadership of the United States, the President
of the United States, we are going to follow these principles, these
kinds of tendencies.
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Q. Mr. President, do you see the chance that the United States
would exercise its option to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty if it is not possible to negotiate changes to permit a national
missile defense? And was this possibility raised in your discussions
with President Putin?
President Clinton. Well, first of all, I have not made a decision
on the national missile defense stage one. It is premature. The
statement of principles that we have agreed to I thought reflected an
attempt to bring our positions closer together. I do not believe the
decision before me is a threat to strategic stability and mutual
deterrence. The Russian side disagrees. But we had a lot of agreement
here.And again, let me say, I urge you all to read that.
I do not want the United States to withdraw from the ABM regime,
because I think it has contributed to a more stable, more peaceful
world. It has already been amended once, and its framers understood that
circumstances might change and threats might arise which were outside
the context of U.S.-now Russian relations. We acknowledge that there is
a threat. It needs to be met, and we're trying to bridge our
differences. And I think that's where we ought to leave it.
START Treaties
Q. President Clinton, Mr. President, what do you feel about
Russia's continuation of reducing within START III the number of
warheads down to 1,500 warheads?
Thank you.
President Clinton. I missed the translation. Would you give it to
me again?
Q. What would be the attitude of the United States, Mr. President,
on the Russian position of coming down to 1,500 warheads within START
III?
President Clinton. Well, we had previously agreed to a range of
2,000 to 2,500 on START III. If we were to come down below that, it
would require us to change our strategic plan. And we believe it would
be much better if we were going to do that, if we could also know that
we were defending ourselves against a new threat, which we believe is
real. So we will continue to discuss all these things.
Let me say, I am certain--I am eager to get down to the START II
levels, and I am eager to go below the START II levels, but I also want
to try to solve the new threat, as well. And I will do whatever I can to
achieve both objectives.
Clinton/Putin Relationship
Q. This is for both Presidents. Now that you have met together as
Presidents, how would you describe each other's personalities and
leadership qualities? And how do you see them affecting relations
between the two countries? And in particular, President Clinton, are you
any more or less assured about the future of democracy in Russia
following your meetings today?
President Clinton. You want to go first?
President Putin. As you know, this is not our first meeting,
between myself and President Clinton. President Clinton, now for almost
8 years, heads one of the most powerful countries in the world. He's a
very experienced politician. In my mind, we've established now not only
good business ties but also personal relations. For me, President
Clinton is a person who is a very comfortable and pleasant partner in
negotiations.
I think that if everyone behaves the way President Clinton has
behaved, not trying to find dead ends and problems but to seek ways of
moving ahead, I think, between us in the future our relations really
will be successful. Take a look at the ABM Treaty. There are a lot of
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problems there. We've written down in our statement, about which Mr.
Clinton just spoke, a basis, a principle of basis for maintaining the
ABM Treaty as a major key point in the whole strategic balance and for
maintaining security.
Now, the starting point for the possibility of seeing new threats
arrive, we have a commonality. We're against having a cure which is
worse than the disease. We understand that there are ways and a basis
that we can build upon in order to solve even this issue, an issue which
seems to be one of the most difficult to solve.
So I repeat, we know that today, in the United States, there is a
campaign ongoing. We're familiar with the programs of the two main
candidates. And if these programs are implemented, and there it says,
for instance, the necessity to positively improve relations between
Russia and the United States, the time that Mr. Clinton is going to pass
on to the next President, no matter who gets to be President, we're
willing to go forward on either one of these approaches.
Thank you.
President Clinton. Well, let me say first, I think President Putin
has an enormous opportunity and a great challenge. If you want to know
what my personal assessment is, I think he is fully capable of building
a prosperous, strong Russia, while preserving freedom and pluralism and
the rule of law. It's a big challenge. I think he is fully capable of
doing it.
And I want to use the time I have remaining as President not only to
further the interests of the United States in meeting our national
security threat but also to further our interest in having a good,
stable relationship with a Russia that is strong and prosperous and
free, respecting pluralism and the rule of law. That's what I'm trying
to do. I think he is fully capable of achieving that. And I'm encouraged
by the first 2 days of our really serious work.
Note: The President's 191st news conference began at 6:55 p.m. in St.
George's Hall in the Kremlin. In his remarks, he referred to former
President Boris Yeltsin and current Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov of
Russia. President Putin and some of the reporters spoke in Russian, and
their remarks were translated by an interpreter.