Bush-Yeltsin Summit Slated for June 16-17

President Bush and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin will meet in Washington for a two-day summit in June to discuss various issues, including reform in Russia and joint efforts to scale back nuclear arsenals in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The meeting, set for June 16 and 17, will be the first state visit by a modern Russian leader to Washington and follows a series of meetings between American leaders and those of the Soviet Union.

Originally scheduled for July, the summit had been announced when Yeltsin paid a brief visit to Bush at Camp David, Md., on Feb. 1, after a U.N. Security Council meeting. Bush said that he and Yeltsin will review “the ever-strengthening relationship between the two countries.”

At the same time, the visit will give Yeltsin a very public vote of confidence in Washington as he struggles with opposition to economic reform programs in Russia and also pressures there to move the reforms forward at a quicker pace.

“It will give me yet another opportunity--this in a very formal visit--to pay my respects to Boris Yeltsin, who is really doing a superb job there,” Bush said.

He made his comments to reporters on the White House South Lawn before beginning a visit to this Chicago suburb.