[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 39 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Pages 1871-1872]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Yeltsin of Russia and an 
Exchange With Reporters

September 27, 1994

    President Clinton. Well, let me say before you start that this is a 
very important meeting for both of us and for our country as we're 
looking forward to having the opportunity to discuss a lot of things, 
particularly issues relating to the remaining nuclear matters we're 
trying to resolve between us, and a lot of our mutual concerns about 
organized crime, which I think will take a good deal of work over the 
years ahead. As you know, the FBI Director has already been to Moscow, 
and we're working closely on that. So we're looking forward to the 
meeting.

Bosnia

    Q. President Yeltsin, can we ask you, if Congress forces the 
President, and he has promised he will do this, to lift the arms embargo 
if the Serbs don't comply, what will be your response if the United 
States lifts the arms embargo and lets the Bosnian Muslims arm 
themselves?
    President Yeltsin. My response would be negative, of course. But we 
will discuss this issue with the President of the United States.
    Q. Mr. President, do you want to comment? Do you want to comment on 
what you think can be accomplished?
    President Clinton. Well, as you know, the--at least for the moment, 
this may be a largely academic discussion for two reasons. One is, the 
legislation now pending commits me to pursue a multinational, 
multilateral lifting of the embargo through the U.N., and we received 
word just in the last couple of days from the Bosnian Government that 
they may be interested in deferring any action on that for 4 to 6 
months. It's something they brought to us, so we're all working through 
that.
    I think the most important thing is we have to keep pressing the 
Bosnian Serbs to end the conflict, to accept the Contact Group's 
proposal. And I want to emphasize that the United States and Russia have 
worked very closely together on Bosnia to this point. We have been 
together every step of the way. We're going to do our best to stay 
together.
    Q. Haven't they stopped you from further air strikes? Haven't they 
opposed some of your policies?
    President Yeltsin. Very impressive. [Laughter]
    President Clinton. That's very impressive, right?
    Q. It's my job.
    President Clinton. She does it well. She does it well. [Laughter]

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

President Yeltsin's First Visit

    Q. Mr. President, do you remember your first meeting with President 
Yeltsin 2 years ago in Blair House here in Washington?
    President Clinton. Yes, I do. I remember it well. We had a fine 
visit. It was more than 2 years ago, I think, wasn't it?
    Q. Yes, it was in June.
    President Clinton. Yes, that was before I had even been nominated 
for President formally. I remember it well. He was very kind to receive 
me. You know, then as I remember, I was running third in the polls, and 
no one thought I would be elected President. So I was very pleased that 
he saw me. And we got off to a good start.

Russia-U.S. Partnership

    Q. You say that the main task is unification of the West and Russia, 
and at the same time you want to be closer--you want to broaden NATO. 
Don't you see that there's a contradiction in that?
    President Clinton. We're going to discuss all those things. We've 
made a remarkable partnership, and I think it's been based on real 
mutual respect for the interests of each other and for our shared goals 
in the world. And I believe we can continue that partnership. We're 
going to work at it.

[[Page 1872]]

Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.