CRISIS IN THE KREMLIN : Partial Text of Bush Remarks

Here is a partial text of President Bush’s Wednesday news conference :

President Bush: Well, I just wanted to report that at 12:19 (EDT), I had a phone conversation with Mikhail Gorbachev, and it lasted about 20 minutes, I think. It was a good call. . . . He tells me that things are under control. His first call, I believe, was with (Russian President) Boris Yeltsin. He stated his sincere appreciation to the people of the United States and others around the world for their support for democracy and reform. And he sounded in good physical condition, indeed his voice was buoyant.

Question: Did he discuss the circumstances surrounding his confinement?

Answer: No . . . except that his guards, he did say, stayed very loyal to him.

Q: What do you consider the main factor in the failure of the coup?

A: The fact that they underestimated democracy and freedom and that you can’t put it back in the box. These totalitarian systems, you can’t have them come out and take over. . . . And that’s what happened, and as a matter of fact, that’s one of the things Gorbachev said. And certainly Yeltsin feels that way.

Q: Does this significantly change the U.S.-Soviet relationship?

A: I think it’s a good day for U.S.-Soviet relationship because I don’t think that the fears that some of us have had about--many people have had actually about right-wing takeovers. . . . They tried and they failed and democracy prevailed and reform prevailed and that’s what this is all about. So I think that--I expect the relationship to be if anything even better and we--you know, you’ve got to wait, they’ve got to sort out some internal problems, but I explained to him, as I have told Yeltsin, that we are ready to talk to the leaders of the republics and certainly we will be ready to talk and deal with the President of the Soviet Union itself.