DATE=11/18/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON - YELTSIN (L)
NUMBER=2-256307
BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE
DATELINE=ISTANBUL
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
Intro: President Clinton has joined world leaders at
a summit of the Organization of Security and
Cooperation Europe in condemning Russia's bloody
military campaign in Chechnya, and calling for a
political solution to the crisis. He spoke shortly
after Russian President Boris Yeltsin addressed the
meeting and defiantly rejected international criticism
of the offensive. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports
from Istanbul, where the meeting is taking place.
Text: Although Mr. Clinton acknowledged Russia's
desire to crackdown on terrorism within its borders,
he said Moscow's military actions in Chechnya are the
wrong way to accomplish that. And he expressed concern
about the mounting civilian casualties and refugees
that have resulted.
/// CLINTON ACTUALITY ///
The means Russia has chosen will undermine its
ends. And if attacks on civilians continue, the
extremism Russia is trying to combat will only
intensify, and the sovereignty Russia rightly is
defending will be more and more rejected by
ordinary Chechens who are not part of the terror
or the resistance.
/// END ACT ///
The President appealed for a political settlement of
the crisis through dialogue with Chechens who are
willing to seek a peaceful resolution. Mr. Clinton
said the O-S-C-E could play a role in facilitating
that dialogue.
Tempering his remarks, Mr. Clinton appealed to the
Russian leader - whom he called `my friend' - to
recall the memory of his stand against Soviet tanks
during a 1991 coup attempt outside Parliament.
/// CLINTON ACTUALITY ///
One of the most thrilling experiences of my life
as a citizen of the world before I became
President, was when you stood up on that tank in
Moscow. When they tried to take the freedom of
the Russian people away, and your standing there
on that tank said to those people: you can do
this, but you will have to kill me first. If
they had put you in jail instead of electing you
President, I would hope that every leader of
every country around this table would have stood
up for you and for freedom in Russia, and not
said `well, that is an internal Russian affair
that we cannot be a part of.'
/// END ACT ///
The US leader took issue with his Russian
counterpart's assessment of the US-led NATO bombing
campaign over Yugoslavia as `US-led aggression.' He
said the international community learned a tough
lesson in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where it waited four
years before taking action against Serb aggression.
Quoting a scathing U-N report on the world body's
actions in Bosnia, he said that delay was responsible,
in part, for the thousands of deaths and hundreds of
thousands of refugees in the former Yugoslav republic.
Mr. Clinton and Mr. Yeltsin met later Thursday for
talks that included the issue of Chechnya. The US
President told reporters that he urged the Russians to
find a way to resolve the matter peacefully, and he
expressed hope for some progress before the OSCE
summit ends Friday. (Signed)
NEB/DAT/JO
18-Nov-1999 06:42 AM EDT (18-Nov-1999 1142 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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