PRESIDENTS Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin renewed their commitment to
Russian reforms and crowned a Moscow summit today with a landmark deal
on scrapping Ukraine's nuclear arsenal.
''This is our great victory,'' Yeltsin declared at a Kremlin ceremony
where Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk signed away his country's 176
nuclear missiles for promises of US and Russian security guarantees and
Western aid.
The deal, following two years of tough bargaining by Kiev, commits it
to handing over the world's third biggest nuclear arsenal to Russia for
destruction.
Clinton and Yeltsin then signed a largely symbolic agreement -- it is
unverifiable -- to stop aiming their nuclear missiles at each other's
cities. And Washington signed a deal to buy uranium worth $12 billion
from Russia, some of it from Ukrainian missiles, over the next 20 years.
At a news conference, the presidents played down the threat to reform
and democracy posed by the strong showing in December 12 parliamentary
elections by nationalists led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
''In the end the reform movement will prevail,'' Clinton declared.
Yeltsin forecast he would be able to work with the new parliament,
where conservatives and nationalists outnumber supporters of his market
reforms.
He said it was ''cleverer, more intellectual, has more experience''
than its conservative predecessor, whose dissolution by Yeltsin last
September triggered a bloody conflict.
Despite his words, the lower house or State Duma elected an opponent
of reforms as its speaker after his only rival, a nationalist,
effectively withdrew.
Clinton said the United States would release more than 1 billion in
each of the next two years to support Russian reform, and international
financial bodies would provide more.
But Yeltsin stressed that Russia did not need aid so much as the
opening of US markets to its products.
''It's not humanitarian aid we need but full-blooded cooperation,
taking into account the transitional character of our young market
economy,'' he told the news conference.
Clinton won grudging acceptance from Yeltsin for his Partnership for
Peace proposal to offer former Soviet bloc states increased military
cooperation instead of immediate membership of the Western alliance
Nato.
Yeltsin agreed to participate in the scheme, but stressed it should
not replace other security bodies such as the 53-member Conference on
Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Clinton, in a folksy speech to young people shown live on national
television, told Russians the painful change under way in their country
would lead to a brighter future.
But the day's key development was the accord with Ukraine, despite
concern that parliament there will try to block it.
Clinton praised Kravchuk for his courage, while Yeltsin said the
accord removed a last remnant of the Cold War.
Under the agreement, Ukraine will transfer at least 200 of its 1600
nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction within 10 months and the rest
''in the shortest possible time''.
Kravchuk's opponents at home were livid.
''Kravchuk's actions are treason,'' nationalist leader Vyacheslav
Chornovil said in Kiev. ''
Kravchuk, undaunted, told reporters: ''I think that after examining
these documents and realising Ukraine's interest, the parliament will
support it.''
He said most of the uranium from the first batch of missiles to be
decommissioned would be returned to Ukraine for its nuclear power
stations. The money from the rest of the uranium would be used to pay
Ukraine's foreign energy bills.
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