Title: Milestones: 1993–2000 - Office of the Historian
Headings: Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations
Milestones: 1993–2000
Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, and U.S.-Russian Relations

Content: Such calculations were soon  overtaken by events, however, as the challenges of managing relations between  two former adversaries proved too much for his subordinates to handle on their  own. “ By the spring of his first year in office,” Talbott later recalled,  “Clinton had become the U.S. government’s principal Russia hand, and so he  remained for the duration of his presidency.” Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton, October 23, 1995, during the summit  meeting at Hyde Park, New York. ( William J. Clinton Presidential  Library)
Like many of his predecessors, Bill Clinton tended to view relations with other  countries through the prism of personality. In this case, Russia was personified  by its President, Boris Yeltsin. Clinton was strongly  inclined not only to like Yeltsin but also to support his policies, in  particular, his commitment to Russian democracy. During the seven years both  were in office, “Bill and Boris” met eighteen times, nearly as often as their  predecessors had met throughout the entire Cold War. For his first trip abroad,  Clinton met Yeltsin in Vancouver in April 1993. At the time, and periodically  throughout his term in office, Yeltsin faced growing opposition at home to his  efforts to liberalize the economy and enact democratic reforms in Russia. At  Vancouver, Clinton promised Yeltsin strong support in the form of financial  assistance to promote various programs, including funds to stabilize the  economy, to house decommissioned military officers, and to employ nuclear  scientists.