3 9BSRiT I • 1a '- _ L '- ' 2J _ I i TH£ WHIT£ HOUSE WASHINGTON REVIEW AUTHORITY Marvin Russell Senior Reviewer RELEASE IN FULL MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT Telcon with President Boris Yeltsin of Russian Federation U PARTICIPANTS The President President Yeltsin Interpreter Demitry Zarechnak Notetakers John Beyrle and Rose Gottemoeller DATE TIME AND PLACE September 21 1993 3 56 • 4 13pm White House Residence President's Study President Yeltsin Good evening Bill U The President Hello Boris I have just been briefed on your speech tonight and I wanted to call you right away to get your personal sense of what this step will mean for you for the Russian political process and for reform I want to issue a public statement to state my support for you but before I do I wanted to hear from you how this affects your position and the process of reform in Russia S President Yeltsin Bill the Supreme Soviet has totally gone out of control It no longer supports the reform process They ·have become communist cannot no longer put up with that For that reason today I signed a decree on elections to a new democratic assembly to take place on December 11 and 12 In that period the Supreme Soviet and congress actions will not have any effect Everything will be governed by Presidential 4ecree All the democratic forces are supporting me fS we The President Are the military and security services with you S President Yeltsin Both the military and Ministry of Internal Affairs have come out in support of me There is no disorder for the time being There are about 300 people gathered but they are dispersing I think there will be no bloodshed S The President That's good Your speech comes at an important time here -- the Senate will act this week on the $2 5 billion assistance package for Russia and the other states Secretary Christopher is with key members of Congress now to underscore our continued support for the bill S Declassify on OADR UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No M-2006-01499 Doc No C17533697 Date 06 15 2016 4 President Yeltsin faster Yes of course now the reforms will go S The President That's good It will also be important for me to be able to tell the U S people and the Senate that you intend to pursue the elections in a fully democratic manner that they will be free and farr and that the outcome will be observed by you and all other parties It will be im rtant to confirm publicly that is what you said and that is what you believe S President Yeltsin Absolutely this will be the case and I thank you for your support C The President Let me ask yqu one question that I know the press will ask me today I have heard that Rutskoi and Khasbulatov are claiming that they are being denied access to the press Freedom of expression will be important during the elections It will be important to be able to say that they proceeded really freely and democratically Free access to the press is an important part of that What are the facts from your point of view and what is the connection to the election S President Yeltsin This is not connected to the elections and nobody has forbidden them to talk to the press I have made no such decision S The President Thank you I intend to be in touch with our allies in Europe and Asia to underscore the importance of support for reform in Russia at this critical juncture I just want to say again that you wi11 have my support and the support of the American people I will continue to push for the aid package It will be important if you can conf irm · to us and to your own people that you are really going to continue the process of reform and that the elections will be free and fair S President Yeltsin Thank you for your support · I promise that the elections will be fully carried out in a democratic way without discrimination of any kind Anybody who wants to take part will be able to do so The reforms will go much faster now than in the past The Supreme Soviet hindered reforms in the past And thank you for your support The Russian people will not forget S The President I know you need your rest but before you go I wanted to ask you what will the opposition do S President Yeltsin The opposition will try not to recognize what has happened But the people will understand all of this especially the intelligentsia We don't want to use force · Everything will take place peacefully We do not in any circumstances want bloodshed S The President I t ought it would be important to talk to you before I spoke to the press because the American people are standing with you and the Russian people This conversation has liil@R I '' __- -- - • _ '- __ _ - 4 l UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No M-2006-01499 Doc No C17533697 Date 06 15 2016 UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No M-2006-01499 Doc No C17533697 Date 06 15 2016 • 0 • • • - ••- - - - - • • -•• • • • • •---••• v•• - • ' ' •tr • U I ' '-'• I uuuc q O rl lC helped If you need to talk to me any time in the next two days I'll available any time of the day or night All the best S Then we should tell the President Yeltsin Thank you Bill press about our conversation U The President Yes I will immediately issue a statement to the press Good night U President Yeltsin Thank you I embrace you Biil U -- End of Conversation µeREf- ' • __ • • • r • - --- - • I I P • • UNCLASSIFIED U S Department of State Case No M-2006-01499 Doc No C17533697 Date 06 15 2016 5 NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE 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