8817 -CONE'IDrNTlAr THE WHITE HOUSE WA S ' 11NGTON SUBJECT Telcon with President Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on December 3 1991 PARTICIP i 1 'JTS The President Leonid Kravchuk President of Ukraine Interpreter George Sajewich Notetaker Ed Hewett DATE TIME AND PLACS December 3 1991 6 59 - 7 09am Oval Office The President Can you hear me Mr President President Kravchuk U I can hear you Mr President U The President I'm calling to congratulate you on your landslide victory and the overwhelming results of the referendum U President Kravchuk I am grateful to you Mr President 90 3% of the voters approved independence of Ukraine I recall our discussions in the White House about the future of Ukraine and of the referendum ¢ I must tell you that not even a single district in Ukraine came in below 50% support for Ukrainian independence And these elections were held under the eye of international observers including observers from the U S U The President Congratulations on all of that U We issued a statement yesterday congratulating Ukraine on the e ion results We sent a copy to Oudovenko at the U N I welcome any comments from you on statement which expresses the policy of the U S on Ukraine U In the next few days I will be sending Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Thomas Niles as a special emissary to consult on U S -Ukrainian relations If you are not too busy I hope you will be able to receive him f After Niles returns I would like for Jim Baker to travel to Kiev and Moscow to continue the discussions which Niles began 9' President Kravchuk That's great I will be very glad to receive Deputy Secretary of State Niles in order to talk about CONPIDEN'l'IAL Declassify on OADR OECL ASS F ED PER EJJQ i 2958 AS AMENDED cea l- F l J From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive MEMORA'JDUM OF TELEPHONE CON'ilERSATION I t_ i COJ JF H iPJT IAL j ' U L all of the problems of mutual interest between us And later on we will be very glad to receive Mr Baker for more detailed discussions to define our position on U S -Ukrainian relations in particular on such issues as disarmament and human rights We want to discuss all issues which need to be resolved so that we can be accepted in the international community The President Great Those are precisely the issues I wanted to discuss Obviously implementing independence will require resolution of some complex issues between Ukraine Russia -- on economics defense and related issues Obviously you want a peaceful resolution of those issues I President Kravchuk Thank you Mr President I want to say that I talked with Boris Yeltsin He said that after results of the referendum Russia will recognize Ukraine as an independent state This Saturday I will meet with Mr Yeltsin in Minsk along with Shushkevich to discuss all issues of our policy and the priority considerations in relations with the Russian republic f- The President j Very important That's wonderful U President Kravchuk Thank you once again for the talk and for your wish to get to know Ukraine better I am looking forward to the visit of the Assistant Secretary and Secretary of State I will be very glad to meet with them U The President Good luck Thank you Congratulations again on the wonderful display of democracy and your wonderful victory U President Kravchuk Thank you again am being inaugurated'on Thursday U The President Good luck President Kravchuk I have to tell you that I U All the best U -- End of Conversation €GWFIDli NTillI 0nt 1r1ric 1T I ' ' I · ' - I I i' l · J1 kL From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive I really just wanted to call to see if you could receive Assistant Secretary Niles and Secretary Baker and to wish you the best the very best as you set out to implement your program U