-SECRET S CftET 7653 THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED PER E O 13526 '- 15 o gl-M- I 1 3 1 'l 01 MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT Telcon with President Boris Yeltsin of Russian Federation U PARTICIPANTS The President President Boris Yeltsin Interpreter Dmitriy Zarechnak Notetaker John Beyrle DATE TIME ANO PLACE October 5 1993 1 42 - 2 02pm Air Force One President Yeltsin voice U Bill good evening -8 1 It's good to hear your The President Good evening Boris I wanted to call you and express my support I have been following events closely and have tried to support you as much as possible I know this has been a difficult time for you and I wanted to know how you are doing vz-5 President Yeltsin Bill thank you very much for your support which I knew and felt would be coming Now that these events are over we have no more obstacles to Russia's democratic elections and our transition to democracy and a market economy The fascist organizations that had been active in these events have now been banned so now I feel that all will be fine It's too bad that some people were killed but this is the fault of those who were the first to open fire and acted in a provocative way They brought to Moscow a gang of people from the Transdniester region the Riga OMON •• these were special forces They had them come here gave them machine guns and grenade launchers and had them fire on peaceful civilians There was no other alternative than to use force against them This was terrorism and banditry at work I felt that the people supported me Now that we have all this behind us I plan to move forward in a strong way The President What will your timetable be for elections you keep to the same schedule you had planned 9' Will President Yeltsin Yes the elections will be held Dec 11 as planned But I also think that maybe in order to meet the desires expressed by other parties I will consider holding early elections for the president simultaneously with the parliamentary elections I'm not sure but I may end up in the Guiness Book of SSCRET Declassify on OADR Sf GRE -8EGijET World Records for standing for election three times in three years The President Laughing Yes I don't know what I'd do if I had to run for election three times in three years But you just seem to get stronger and better President Yeltsin Yes I guess I can't do much about it And no real rivals to me are visible My current rating stands at 90 percent jl' The President What is the prevailing attitude among the regional leaders Can we do something through our aid package to send support out to the regions ' President Yeltsin That would be good Those regional leaders who were supporting the opposition are now changing their support to us But nonetheless this kind of regional support would be very useful 9' The President I will have my people follow up with yours on that issue 1 Another question I have for you how will you decide who can run in the elections after all that's happened and which papers and press outlets to open again Will that be a problem for you President Yeltsin There will be no restrictions on the elections except for those who have been charged with crimes who have incited murder or bodily harm Thirty-nine people have now been killed on our side 8' The President What will happen to Rutskoy and Khasbulatov and the other leaders that are in custody 8 President Yeltsin The courts the prosecutors and an investigation will decide We will not take part in this For now they are in custody and are being held in prison If the court decides that they were not involved in murders or other crimes if they issued no orders to shoot to kill -- though I'm certain that Rutskoy did give such orders -- if they are not guilty they should be acquitted Or if they are found guilty I could pardon them as long as they resolve to leave public life In any case this will all be done in a democratic fashion The President That's good In closing I want to express my intention to continue to work on our bilateral relations Energy Secretary O'Leary was recently in Moscow and I know other cabinet secretaries are planning visits Secretary Christopher will be there the third week of October I assume you want us to press ahead on all of these projects I'm also looking forward to my own visit in January 8' President Yeltsin Yes Bill I am very happy for the support you have given I appreciate the cooperation And I am looking SEGRET RB'P I -· Jn forward to the visit by you and your wife Hillary in January The President Great I hope you'll be able to get some rest now I know it has been very hard for you but you did everything exactly as you had to and I congratulate you for the way you handled it V'1' President Yeltsin all my heart U Thank you for everything -- End of Conversation -- -SBCR I embrace you with 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