Yeltsin and Clinton are the leaders of the two great powers, Russia and the United States, who ruled their countries throughout the 90s of the XX century. It was a difficult time for the world as a whole. The Cold War, which lasted for several decades, ended in a landslide victory for America. The Soviet Union ceased to exist, after which the United States ceased to be enemy No. 1 for Soviet and Russian citizens. They no longer had to resist, the leaders of the two states had to build relations in a new way, which over the past years had been built on aggression, mutual accusations and suspicions.
President of Russia
Yeltsin and Clinton have become symbols of the decade, not only in their countries, but throughout the rest of the world. Boris Nikolayevich came to power, declaring the rejection of the construction of communism, a socialist state and a planned economy. From his submissionmany Russians learned for the first time what the free market, privatization, vouchers are.
In fact, Yeltsin came to power as a result of the first in the history of the country's presidential elections in the RSFSR, which took place on June 12, 1991. It was decided to appoint a vote following the results of a referendum on the introduction of a corresponding post in the RSFSR. In total, six candidates took part in the voting, but the public and experts understood that none of them could compete with Yeltsin. All other candidates were supporters of conservative ideas or law enforcement agencies.
Victory in presidential elections
As a result, Boris Nikolayevich won a landslide victory in the first round, gaining more than 57% of the vote. Nikolai Ryzhkov, who took second place, received the support of a little less than 17% of voters, Vladimir Zhirinovsky came third.
Yeltsin's rule lasted until December 31, 1999, when he voluntarily resigned a few hours before the New Year. He became the only leader of Russia who decided to take such a difficult step.
In 1996, Yeltsin managed to win re-election for a second term, defeating communist Gennady Zyuganov in the second round.
US Leader
Bill Clinton became the 42nd president in US history. Prior to that, he was elected Attorney General of Arkansas, twice became the governor of this state. He came to power a little later than Yeltsin, and stayed in the White House a little longer than the Russian president.
The election, which Clinton won, was held on November 3, 1992. Yeltsin's future friend had to fight with the incumbent head of state, George W. Bush, who was nominated by the Republican Party and was running for a second term. As a result, Clinton won with 370 electoral votes to Bush's 168.
In 1996, he repeated that success, this time surpassing Republican nominee Bob Dole. On January 20, 2001, Clinton ceded the presidency to George W. Bush.
First meeting
Interestingly, having become the head of state, Yeltsin held his first meeting with the American president when George Bush Sr. held this post. The leaders of the two superpowers held talks from January 31 to February 1, 1992 at the country residence of the American head of state at Camp David, near Washington.
The first meeting between Yeltsin and Clinton took place on April 3, 1993, three months after taking office as the American leader. The main topic was the problems of the economy. As political analysts noted, Yeltsin emphasized that he would continue to build a market economy in Russia, and did not intend to deviate from this. In response, the Americans promised to provide more than one and a half billion dollars for the implementation of these reforms. The result of the negotiations between Clinton and Yeltsin was the signing of a package of bilateral economic programs.
The meeting itself was held in Vancouver, Canada. Based on the results of this program, the presidents stated that they confirm the Russian-American partnership, and in the future they expect that its effectiveness will only grow. Other topics raised by Yeltsin and Clinton were the Korean nuclear issue and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Observers noted that already during this very first meeting, warm friendly relations were outlined between them. The US President wrote in his memoirs that he really liked Yeltsin, although he called him a big bear, full of contradictions, who stood at the helm.
In subsequent years, Bill Clinton and Yeltsin met 17 more times.
Why did Clinton laugh?
Perhaps the most memorable of all these 17 meetings was the one that took place in 1995. At a press conference following a bilateral summit meeting, the American president could not resist, violating all the rules of good manners and decency. The video of Clinton laughing at Yeltsin was immediately shown by TV channels around the world.
Not everyone, especially in Russia, understood what had happened. The reason turned out to be a banal mistake made by the translator. Yeltsin left the talks extremely satisfied, although earlier many media, primarily Western, predicted that the presidents would not be able to agree, the negotiations would fail. To everyone who did not believe in this, Yeltsin bluntly declared: "You failed."
The translator literally translated the words of the Russian president into English with the phrase to have a disaster. In slang, it means the impartial phrase "put in your pants." Hearing this from the leader of Russia, Clinton could not help but began to laugh uncontrollably. At the same time, he turned to reporters with the phrase: "I hope youunderstand correctly", emphasizing that he is not laughing at Yeltsin himself, as it might seem from the outside, but at the work of a translator.
The video of Yeltsin and Clinton laughing has become a symbol of their declaration of friendship and partnership.
Declassified data
Recently, new data has emerged that casts doubt on the fact that this was an equal partnership, as it was officially stated more than once at the highest level. A real scandal in the media was caused by declassified reports on the correspondence between Yeltsin and Clinton and their negotiations. In particular, it turned out that the Russian leader told his American counterpart about plans to transfer power to Vladimir Putin, and also complained about the communists who want to take Alaska and Crimea.
These documents were officially released by the Clinton Presidential Library in the summer of 2018, and contain 56 records in total, including reports of personal meetings, telephone conversations between Clinton and Yeltsin.
Personal relationships
In particular, these documents prove that close and warm personal relations have indeed been established between the heads of state, as they have repeatedly stated. They constantly used this friendship to interact effectively with each other. Moreover, they did not always agree, often the presidents argued, disagreements arose between them. The most serious, as it has now become clear, were connected with the war in Kosovo andeastward expansion of NATO.
At the same time, it became known that Clinton repeatedly offered support to Yeltsin, especially zealously throughout the political crisis in the country in 1993, and then the financial and economic problems that followed in 1998, which led to the devaluation of the ruble.
For example, two days after the execution of parliament in the Russian capital, Clinton himself called Yeltsin, expressing words of support, emphasizing that he sees no obstacles to holding democratic and fair elections.
When the First Chechen War broke out, Clinton expressed concern about this, noting that the fighting would reflect badly on the image of Boris Nikolayevich, who had to run for a second term to start all the reforms started in the country.
Election Credit
After the declassification of these documents, it became officially known that Yeltsin turned to Clinton for help on the eve of the 1996 presidential election. The Russian head of state asked for help with an urgent loan of two and a half billion dollars, he needed the money to conduct an election campaign.
In a conversation with Clinton, the Russian president noted that the money will be used to pay salaries and pensions in order to enlist the support of the people before the vote. In response, Clinton promised to hold appropriate negotiations in the International Monetary Fund, as well as with specific people, to discuss what solution can be found in this situation.
In the spring of 1996, Yeltsin, in a conversation with Clinton, was indignant that the American mediasupport the communists.
War in Yugoslavia
Another reason for a difficult conversation between the heads of state was the US airstrikes on Yugoslavia. Clinton during this conversation called Milosevic a "hooligan", stating that he should not have interfered with the development of their relationship.
In response, Yeltsin complained that ordinary Russians would now have a bad opinion about the West, but he did everything to improve these relations. When an agreement with Yugoslavia was reached in 1999 with Russian participation, Yeltsin warmly told Clinton that he would like to hug and kiss him, so that in this situation their friendship would not suffer for anything.
But a few days after this conversation and a joint photo of Yeltsin and Clinton taken after the meeting, Russian troops occupied the airport in Pristina, after which an angry Clinton even threatened to disrupt the G8 meeting.
Operation Successor
It turns out that Yeltsin told Clinton about Putin back in September 1999. The Russian president told his American counterpart by phone that he had decided on a successor. Noting that he went through many candidates, from which he could not choose anyone worthy, until he got Putin.
Yeltsin characterizes the current head of state as a reliable and knowledgeable person, strong, thorough and very sociable. Boris Nikolayevich notes that he hopes for Putin to build relations with partners, expresses his conviction that he will be supported in the electionsin 2000.
Putin's characterization
In November of the same year, during a personal meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, Yeltsin answered without hesitation Clinton's question about who could win the elections in Russia next year, when the term of Boris Nikolayevich himself comes to an end.
Yeltsin replies with conviction that it will be Putin - a hard man with an inner core. He himself guarantees to do everything possible from a legal point of view, so that everything goes well. Yeltsin says that he will continue his line aimed at the economy and democracy, will expand contacts with Russia, and will be able to succeed.
