0008 THE WHITE HOUSE WASH MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE I NGTON CONVERSATION DECLASSIFIED PER E 0 13526 Z -1 Xp ‘ KQVA SUBJECT TelconwithActingPresident Putinof Russia PARTICIPANTS The President and ActingPresident Putin NOTETAKERS Rogers Manning and Williams DATE TIME AND PLACE January1 2000 1107­1116EST Residence The President Hello U ActingPresident Putin Yes I am listening U The President Congratulations and thank you fortaking my call U ActingPresident Putin Thank you verymuch Mr President for thiscall U The President I think you are offto a very good start Yeltsin's resignation statement and what you have saidin your initial statements are veryencouraging forthe future of Russiandemocracy I wanted to call just to reaffirm my commitment to our partnership and to work withyou I know that we still have some differences in our relationship and you know what our concernsare about Chechnya and the Caucasus but we alsohave much in common and thereare many thingswe need to be workingon together I just wanted to say thatI hope we'll have an earlychance to meet and talk I know you have a campaign to run over the next 90 days but we'reeager to be a constructive partner There are so many things we have to do in the future but I think we can have a very good year and I am committedto doingthat ijlf ActingPresident Putin Thank you once again forthiscall I visited withBorisNikolayevich today and he knew thatwe were going to talk He asked me to pass on to you hiswarmest New Year'swishes We were pleasedwithyour statement on President Yeltsin's resignation It was quitebalancedand wellwishing and we appreciate this We thank you personally because you have done a lotto developRussian­American relations We know thatyour administration can appreciate the natureand level of -GONFIDEN jAiT Classified by RobertA Bradtke Reason 1 5 d Declassify on 01 01 10 these relations The factthatthe Administration appreciates our relations obliges us to developthem further as you probably know or your Administration knows from my interview withCNN two days ago gap in transmission The President Hello What happened U ActingPresident Putin Yes I am here U The President Hello U ActingPresident Putin We are ready to receive you at any moment at any time thatis convenient foryou Our meetings usually have been short but theywere very impressive There are certain issueson which we do not agree however I believe thaton the core themes we always will be together The most important thingis to developRussia­U S relations forthe good of our peoples jt As you mentionedin your statement President Yeltsin did a lot to destroythe Communist system and to push Russia towardthe civilized countries The direction of Russianpolicies in all areas will continue in the coming threemonths whileI am Acting President A lotwill depend on the person elected President however I believe it will be a progressive person Once again I would like to congratulate you on the New Year I would like to wish you and all the Americanpeoplehappinessand prosperity in everyhome and household I am sure we will finda solution to all the questions on which we disagree Once again Happy New Year The President Thank you again and Happy New Year to you We will meet as soon as possible and I want you to know thatyou can call me at any time day or night I too want the economic problemsof the Russianpeopleto be a thingof the past and for thisgood partnership to grow even stronger I alsowant to wish you a Happy New Year U ActingPresident Putin Thank you verymuch and Happy New Year to you In conclusion I would like to say a few words about the factthatour election campaign is coming up as you mentioned I remember thatin our first meetinginAuckland we touchedupon some of the problemsyou had to go throughin the processof political strife You have shown strongcharacter and have set a good example forus I wish you happinessin the New Year U The President Thank you verymuch and goodbye U ActingPresident Putin Goodbye U 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 Read related article Putin Clinton and Presidential Transitions 2020-11-02