[EXCERPTS] PRESS CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENT CLINTON AND PRESIDENT YELTSIN
THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary (Helsinki, Finland) March 21, 1997
CLINTON: Let me say that President Yeltsin and I will have opening statements, and then we'll begin alternating questions, first with a question from the Russian press and then the American press, and then back and forth.
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We didn't come here expecting to change each other's mind about our disagreement, but we both did come here hoping to find a way of shifting the accent from our disagreement to the goals, the tasks and the opportunities we share. And we have succeeded.
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The second area of our discussion involved our obligation to continue to lead the world away from the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. We have already taken important steps. We signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. We extended a nonproliferation treaty. We stopped targeting each other's cities and citizens. We put START I into force. And we're both committed to securing ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention before it goes into force next month, so that we can finally begin to banish poison gas from the Earth.
Today, President Yeltsin agreed to seek the Dumas' prompt ratification of START II, already ratified by the United States Senate. But we will not stop there. The United States is prepared to open negotiations on further strategic arms cuts with Russia under a START III immediately after the Duma ratifies START II. President Yeltsin and I agreed on guidelines for START III negotiations that will cap at 2,000 to 2,500 the number of strategic nuclear warheads each of our countries would retain, and to finish the reductions of START III by the year 20007.
Now, think about it. This means that within a decade we will have reduced both sides' strategic nuclear arsenals by 80 percent below their Cold War peak of just five years ago. We also reached agreement in our work to preserve the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, a cornerstone of our arms control efforts. Distinguishing between ballistic missile systems restricted by the ABM treaty and theater missile defenses that are not restricted has been a very difficult issue to resolve. Today, after three year of negotiations, we agreed to preserve the ABM treaty while giving each of us the ability to develop defenses against theater missiles.
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YELTSIN: Esteemed journalists, ladies and gentlemen, the first meeting of the Presidents of Russia and the United States has been held after our reelection. Naturally, it was a difficult one because difficult issues were under discussion. But as always, our meeting was quite frank and, on the whole, it was successful. And I am completely in accord with what the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, just said.
We have opened a new stage of Russian-American relations. We discussed in detail the entire range of Russian-American issues -- issues of Russian-American partnership which is quite broad in scale. After all, our countries occupy such a position in the world that the global issues are a subject of our discussions.
Both sides defended their national interests and both countries did not abandon them.
However, our two great powers have an area -- a vast area -- of congruent interests. Chief among these is the stability in the international situation. This requires us to develop our relations, and there has been progress in that direction.
Five joint statements have been signed as a result of our meeting. President Bill Clinton and I just concluded signing these -- on European security, on parameters of future reductions in nuclear forces, concerning the ABM missile treaty, on chemical weapons, and we also signed a U.S. Russian economic initiative.
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Q: President Clinton, it is known that in your Congress there's some criticism frequently that you are a supporter of the ABM treaty. Today's meeting, did that convince you to strengthen the ABM treaty?
CLINTON: Some people have criticized me in my Congress because I do support the ABM treaty. Yes, that's accurate; they have. I do support the ABM treaty. I think it's important. I believe in it. And we have, I believe, strengthened the chances that the ABM treaty will survive by the agreement we have made today and the distinctions we have drawn between the missiles that are covered by the ABM treaty and by theater defense missiles. I believe that very strongly.
There are those in the Congress of the United States, but they are not a majority -- let me emphasize, they are not a majority -- who would undermine the ABM treaty because they don't believe it's in our interest. I believe they're wrong. I believe that the ABM treaty has served us well and will continue to serve us well, especially in view of the questions that we have clarified today between us.
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Q: The question is to the Russian President. Boris Nikolayevich, you said that this meeting started a new phase for these U.S.-Russian relations. What precisely new was introduced into these relations?
YELTSIN: .......
Secondly, there's an unprecedented reduction of nuclear weapons, that is of START III. That's 85 percent of the overall arsenal of warheads is being reduced in connection with that. That is significant. This is a very principled issue and this encompasses not only our two countries, but of the entire European continent and the whole world.
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And on chemical weapons, that, too. Any issue we handled, we've been able to manage a major breakthrough. We didn't discuss small issues. We talked only about strategic issues and on all five issues we were able to find an answer, we were able to find our common point of view. And that's what is reflected in our joint statements.
CLINTON: ...............
And, third -- and I think almost unexpected even among us, we were working along here hoping this would happen --we resolved a number of roadblocks relating to START II and other related issues which permitted us to say that President Yeltsin would seek prompt ratification of START II and we would together support guidelines for START III, which we would hope could be negotiated quickly after that, which would reduce the Cold War arsenals by over 80 percent from the Cold War height, to more or less 80 percent.
These are dramatic and very substantial results, and I'm very pleased with them.
YELTSIN: Just a moment, I'd like to continue for a second longer. You've touched on a very current issue which has to be clarified all the way.
Well, you understand, of course, why is it that the State Duma has not yet ratified START II -- because ABM was suspended. There was no belief that the treaty from '92 on ABM is not only being complied with by the Russian administration, but in the future conditions are being created which would not allow circumvention of the treaty.
In other words, we, for the State Duma, were able to prepare grounds so that the Duma could positively look at ratifying START II.
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Q: To both Presidents, both of you have had problems with your individual parliaments, and yet --
CLINTON: Seems to be a curse of democracy.
Q: Yes. You each have made arms control agreements here that, you know, the parliaments will want a say in. To Mr. Yeltsin, can you guarantee that the Duma will follow your lead and ratify this? And to Mr. Clinton, how can you assure Mr. Yeltsin that you won't have a rebellion in the Congress over the anti-missile defense agreement?
YELTSIN: As far as Russia is concerned, I expect that the State Duma will make a decision based on my advice. (Laughter.)
CLINTON: Boy, I wish I could give that answer. (Laughter.) Let me answer -- you give me an opportunity, actually, to point out the full elements of this timetable on START III. And for those of you -- if you haven't had time to study it, I want to make full disclosure here.
Number one, I expect that our Congress, those who believe in the ABM system but who want us to be able to develop theater missile defenses, which may someday protect all of our friends in different circumstances, including our friends in Russia -- who knows what use we will put to theater missile defenses when we have troops that have to be protected in the future -- I would think that the members of Congress who believe in the ABM treaty but want us to be able to develop theater missile defenses, will be quite pleased by this agreement. I think that that is not where the problem could come.
Let me explain what we agreed to today -- and I did it, I might say, with the full concurrence of General Shalikashvili and Secretary of Defense Cohen, who is not here today but we checked with him.
In order to implement START II in a way that is economically feasible for Russia, but does not in any way compromise the security of the American people, what we agreed to do in this framework is to set a date of 2007 for the full implementation of the reductions in START III, but to delay the date of all the destructions in START II to 2007. We also agreed to move from the beginning of 2003 to the end of 2003 the time that Russia would have to deactivate the warheads covered by START II.
Now, since our Congress ratified START II based on different target dates for the deactivation of the warheads, on the one hand, and the destruction -- ultimate destruction of the missiles, on the other, we will have to go back to them, either separately or in the context of a START III agreement, and ask them to ratify that. And they will have a full opportunity to debate and discuss this.
But I have to tell you, when the Russians advanced this possibility, when President Yeltsin advanced this possibility with me today, the thought that the American people might be able to live in a world within a decade where the nuclear arsenals had been reduced by 80 percent, and the thought that, in addition to that, accelerating the time we had anticipated it would take us to meet the START III targets would save our Department of Defense precious dollars that we need to secure our defense in other ways, and will, therefore, enhance our national defense as well as reducing the threat caused General Shalikashvili to recommend this to me, caused Secretary Cohen to sign off on it, and made me think it was a very good arrangement, indeed, for the Russian people and for the American people, and, indeed, for anybody else who would be affected by what we do on this issue.
So, yes, I've got to go back to the Congress. I believe they will, once they have a chance to fully review this, support the decision I have made today. It may take us a little longer than President Yeltsin indicated it would take him with the Duma, but I think we will both get a favorable result because this is so clearly in the interests of the Russian the American people.
Would you like to take one more?
Q: Boris Nikolayevich, what's your thought on the version that the Russian giving way on the issue of NATO's expansion to the East will be paid by financial generosity of the West?
YELTSIN: .............
First, we looked at Europe security and NATO. Secondly, the ABM issue.
Then we took up chemical weapons. Then we talked about START III, that is, the reduction of further strategic weapons. And only after that we started talking of economic issues. I did not know that the American side was preparing this. But you see, first we resolved and discussed all of these issues, and only then we approached the economic question. This should tell you that this was not a case where we used this as a poker chip.
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