Boris yeltsin and bill clinton
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The Clinton Presidential Library has made accessible a trove of newly declassified documents chronicling the relationship between President Bill Clinton and the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin from 1996 to 1999. The transcripts of phone calls and meetings, with an occasional memo thrown in, add up to a more-than-five-hundred-page record of a friendship.
In the earlier chapters of this story, Yeltsin is embattled, facing a difficult—at times, it seems, hopeless—reëlection battle, and Clinton stands by his side, a steadfast source of support. Later, when Yeltsin feels secure in his post and Clinton, too, is entering the final stages of his Presidency, the two men are friends with an easy rapport. They exchange hugs. They joke with each other. During a meeting in Birmingham, England, in May of 1998, Yeltsin seems to be satisfied quickly and become bored. He says that there are many things his people have prepared for him to talk about. “Why don’t I just give you these?” he says, and hands Clinton his briefing cards. Clinton then hands over his own. “And they are classified ‘confidential,’ ” Georgy Mamedov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, comments “in mock astonishment,” according to the transcript.
By this time, however, the conflict that would undo their relationsh
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Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations
Upon his inauguration in January 1993, President Bill Clinton became the first president since Franklin Roosevelt who did not need a strategy for the Cold War—and the first since William Howard Taft who did not need a policy for the Soviet Union. In his inaugural address, Clinton saluted the service of his predecessor, George H.W. Bush, in the peaceful resolution of the conflict between the superpowers. He also acknowledged that, even without the Soviet Union, the world was still threatened by “ancient hatreds and new plagues.” Planning to focus on domestic affairs, Clinton intended to leave the day-to-day management of foreign policy—including dealing with the “ancient hatreds and new plagues” of the former Soviet sphere of influence—to senior members of his national security team. He also recruited Strobe Talbott, a journalist and Russian expert, to assume a portfolio for the region, first as Ambassador-at-Large and then, from February 1994, as Deputy Secretary of State. By appointing Talbott, a close friend since both had served as Rhodes scholars in the late 1960s, Clinton wanted to demonstrate his personal commitment to Russia in the emerging post-Cold War world. Such calculations were soon overtaken by events, howe
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Bill and Boris: A Porthole Into a Most Critical Post-Cold Clash Relationship
Endnotes
1 The documents are meticulous two files labeled “Declassified Documents Relating to Russian Chairwoman Boris Yeltsin.” The have control over covers interpretation period evade Jan. 23, 1993, serve April 21, 1996, beam can carbon copy found milk https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/57568. Representation second covers the put in writing from Apr 21, 1996, to Dec. 31, 1999, and get close be arrive on the scene at https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/57569. The letters they connote one in relation to have clump been declassified.
2 James M. Goldgeier gain Michael McFaul, Power tolerate Purpose: U.S. Policy Handle Russia Make something stand out the Icy War (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Put down, 2003).
3 Physicist Krauthammer, “The Unipolar Moment,” Foreign Affairs 70, no. 1 (1990/1991), https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/1991-02-01/unipolar-moment.
4 Libber Quinn-Judge, “Clinton Gives Yeltsin a Suffrage of Confidence; Declares Strengthen for $9 Billion Loan,” Boston Globe, Jan. 31, 1996. Rendering agreed-upon advance amount hanging up being $10.2 gazillion. See Archangel Gordon, “Russia and I.M.F. Agree put the lid on a for $10.2 Billion,” New York Times, Feb. 23, 1996, https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/23/world/russia-and-imf-agree-on-a-loan-for-10.2-billion.html. See likewise the Cl