CONFIBENTIAt- GOWFIOEWPIAL 0586 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED PER E O 13526 'l o l · 0 1 · M 1 ov 0 '-012' 0 - SUBJECT Trilateral Meeting with President Boris Yeltsin of Russia on Security Issues U PARTICIPANTS The President Warren Christopher Secretary of State Thomas Pickering U S Ambassador to Russia William Miller U S Ambassador to Ukraine Anthony Lake Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Strobe Talbott Deputy Secretary of State Designate Frank Wisner Under Secretary of Defense for Policy LTG Michael Ryan Assistant to the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Rose Gottemoeller Director for Russia Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs NSC Staff Notetaker Dmitry Zarechnak Interpreter Russia Boris Yeltsin President of the Russian Federation Viktor Chernomyrdin Prime Minister Andrei Kozyrev Foreign Minister Yuri Baturin Secretary of National Security Georgiy Mamedov Deputy Foreign Minister General Pavel Grachev Defense Minister Dmitriy Ryurikov President's National Security Advisor Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk President of Ukraine Yukhyrn Zwigilskiy Acting Prime Minister Anatoliy Zlenko Foreign Minister General Vitaliy Radetsky Defense Minister Anton Buteyko President's National Security Advisor Yevhen Marchuk Security Minister Valeriy Shmarov Deputy Prime Minister January 14 1994 8 35 - 8 55 a m St Catherine's Hall The Kremlin DATE TIME AND PLACE -CONFIDEU' PIA J Declassify on OADR CBNFIOENTIAL From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive 'J MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION CONFIDENTIAL COHFIJ EH'fIA L President Yeltsin Respected colleagues we must put to rest one of the last problems of the Cold War With this agreement we will cement the global regime of nonproliferation give impulse to radical reductions and remove the remaining barrier to disarmament Our signature on the documents has legal political and moral power Each of us is writing a letter to our colleagues making a package of documents with the Trilateral Statement and Annex The letters are part of the package They represent a balance of interests for the national security of all parties We each entertained compromises and did not surrender positions of principle We are giving Ukraine the opportunity to start in practice to implement independence while maintaining a policy of denuclearization Its nuclear weapons are to be withdrawn within 28 1 2 months beginning on January 14 for their subsequent dismantling -- a minimum of 200 in the first 10 months This is a very important beginning to a process Russia and the U S will give full guarantees of security as a sign of friendship and good neighborliness -- safely cementing it Q'f Russia will give just compensation for strategic nuclear weapons and negotiations to agree on amount of compensation for the highly enriched uranium HEU in tactical nuclear weapons that were withdrawn from Ukraine This must be done in a way that corresponds with the Massandra accords We will do everything necessary to maintain ecological safety and will take into account costs to Russia for storage and transport of weapons The United States will also extend substantial assistance And the United States and Russia will have the possibility to proceed to ratify and implement START II We are already ready to begin discussing further reductions with the United States and further measures to enhance strategic stability like the detargeting initiative we will announce today fe1 I would like to underline the constructive role of Bill Clinton in developing and building a formula for agreement I also applaud the willingness of the United States to work with Belarus and Kazakhstan as well as Ukraine on peaceful uses of nuclear material U Yeltsin offers floor to the President the President turns to President Kravchuk President Kravchuk I am sure we will sign the documents today because they are ready to sign are they not We have taken an enormous step in the elimination of nuclear weapons Our agreements make this possible They are a sign of mutual understanding of the problems of Ukraine and the good will to work on them We again confirm that there is no alternative to nuclear disarmament We will take the stable path We will do everything possible so that the trilateral process works From our side the state of Ukraine will strictly adhere to the agreement We are sure this will happen I thank the United States and Russia for understanding the problems of Ukraine and for your readiness to assist us ye' President Yeltsin GOHFIQENTil L Bill U CONFIDENTIAL From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive 2 CONFI OENTIAL -80NFil i ENTIAL 3 I'd like to end by drawing your attention to this tie a friend gave me over Christmas He said it's a good symbol of my presidency It says carpe diem -- seize the day And you have done exactly that I am convinced that in times of change those who survive are those who seize the day We have all said enough I think we should go sign the agreements U President Yeltsin Thank you -- but we have to do the exchange of letters first As I understand I pass this letter to President-Clin S9n and I am expecting a letter from Leonid Makarovich All review letters President Yeltsin I am satisfied hall for the signing U Let's go into the adjacent End of Conversation -- CONFiflEN'fIAL -CONFIBENTIAl - From the Nunn-Lugar collection of the National Security Archive The President Thank you very much I want to commend you both on · your wisdom and vision I am very glad to have had the opportunity to be personally involved as I know the Vice President is I will continue to be personally involved We must work to the end to keep our commitments I am glad to hear you both say you feel the same way I believe this agreement makes the world safer and each of our countries more secure I am especially pleased to see the development of progress between Ukraine and Russia As both President Yeltsin and President Kravchuk said to me separately it is in Russia's interest for Ukraine to be stable and strong and it is in Ukraine's interest for Russia to be stable Both countries have much potential to offer The United States will actively participate in developing partnership among us _µ2i