7 THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN 3 7659 THE WHITE HOUSE DECLASSIFIED PER 13526 WAS I GTO 5_oqu__ 1313 1196 3 October 7 1993 330C 7 Pl - 57 INFORMATION MEMORANDUM FOR THE PR DENT FROM ANTHONY LAW c SUBJECT Clarification on your October 5 Telepho Conversation with President Yeltsin I wanted to highlight for you two possibly confusing stateme made by President Yeltsin in your October 5 telephone conversation First Yeltsin mentioned that a gang of people from Riga in Latvia and the Transdniester in Moldova had participated in the opposition s attempt to overthrow the government on Sunday These men were from the elite Russian security forces stationed in Latvia and Moldova against the wishes of both governments Since Yeltsin did not fully explain who these people were we wanted to be sure you understood that they were not connected in any way with the Latvian and Moldovan governments which actually supported Yeltsin throughout this crisis Second you asked Yeltsin who will be able to participate in the December elections and which of the papers and press outlets will be free to publish Yeltsin said in Russian that there would be no restrictions on the elections and that only those who faced criminal charges would be ineligible to run for office Unfortunately Yeltsin's interpreter mistakenly translated this to say there would be no restrictions on the press Yeltsin did not say that and avoided altogether answering your question on press freedoms For your information Yeltsin has banned ten right-wing newspapers under the current state of emergency which is due to expire on Saturday We are unsure if he will choose to extend the emergency beyond that day We have taken the position that we can understand temporary restrictions to restore order after the attempted coup against him but hope that they will be lifted as the situation returns to normal We are concerned about this issue and have asked Ambassador Pickering to raise it directly with Yeltsi PHOTOCOPY WJC HANDWRITING Attachment Tab A Memorandum of Conversation of your telephone call with President Yeltsin 323%an This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu