U.S.-Russia Talks End in Arms Breakthrough

President Clinton and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin on Friday agreed to disagree on the expansion of NATO but demonstrated the vitality of their personal relationship and the strength of ties between their two countries by announcing major progress in arms control.

In an unexpected, late-afternoon breakthrough here, the two leaders, holding their 12th bilateral meeting, resolved differences on the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, clearing the way for them to announce guidelines for further cutting both nations’ nuclear stockpiles. The so-called START III agreement would reduce nuclear arsenals by 80% from their Cold War levels.

The progress on arms control showed how essential the chemistry between Yeltsin and Clinton has become as the relationship between the two powers evolves from one of enmity to one of partnership.

Yeltsin declared that the session with Clinton represented a “new stage of Russian-American relations,” indicated by the progress on a range of substantial issues including arms control, economic cooperation and a framework for dealing with the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, despite Russia’s opposition to the alliance enlargement.

“I would say that emotions sometimes get the upper hand in assessing the Russian-American partnership: This is not the approach Bill and I have,” Yeltsin told a news conference after the summit, with Clinton nodding in approval.

Talks between the U.S. and Russian presidents stretched for eight hours at a secluded villa on the Baltic Sea, which is the official residence of the Finnish president. Participants described the conversations as unusually intense and substantial but cordial.

In their late-afternoon negotiations, Clinton and Yeltsin came to terms on an interpretation of the 1972 ABM treaty that had “bedeviled” arms negotiators for years, according to Bob Bell, a nuclear arms specialist for the White House National Security Council.

Washington and Moscow have argued for years over identifying those antimissile defense systems that are allowed under the ABM treaty. The treaty expressly limits those systems capable of shooting down long-range missiles.

Moscow has long worried that the United States was going to build a system that would neutralize Russia’s long-range nuclear weapons. The Americans have wanted, among other things, to build an antiballistic missile system to counter the growing threat of the nuclear capability of rogue states, such as Iraq.

The original idea behind the ABM treaty was to prevent either side from acquiring the capability to defend against these intercontinental ballistic missiles--thus assuring that neither side would use them.

The breakthrough Friday came, Bell said, when the United States pledged to consult with Russia as its new technologies for fast antimissile systems emerge.

As soon as the U.S. side agreed to these consultations, the Russian side dropped several of the restrictions that it had been demanding, and the deal was made.

A key to the agreement, Bell added, was that the Russian government seemed to finally believe that the Americans want the new antimissile defense system to protect their troops from shorter- and medium-range missiles, such as Iraqi Scuds, and not to direct them at Russian intercontinental missiles.

Clinton and Yeltsin announced their guidelines to the negotiators, who would be charged with beginning START III talks as soon as the Duma--the lower house of Russia’s parliament--ratifies START II. The goal would be to reduce the number of warheads held by each nation to between 2,000 and 2,500--down from the 3,000 to 3,500 allowed under START II.

Substantial cuts were made in the two superpowers’ arsenals in the early 1990s, but negotiating progress has slowed recently, in part because of disagreements over the interpretation of the ABM treaty and Russia’s failure to ratify START II.

Going ahead with START III immediately is beneficial for the Russians because they would no longer have to build a new generation of missiles, as would have been necessary under START II. The vast majority of the Russian arsenal is in systems prohibited by the treaty.

This is not a problem for the United States, which has adequate supplies of the allowable weapons.

The agreement on the ABM treaty opened the way for the leaders to sketch out plans for START III, as soon as the Russian government ratifies the 1993 START II, or Strategic Arms Reduction treaty.

But the Duma, which is dominated by opponents to Yeltsin, has declared that it will not ratify START II if NATO goes ahead with its expansion. Many members of the Duma argue that because NATO expansion threatens Russia’s security, they must not diminish the nation’s nuclear strength.

Officials on Friday pointed to the relationship between Yeltsin and Clinton as the key to the successes achieved during the two-day meeting in the Finnish capital.

During the news conference at the seaside Kalastaja Torppa Hotel, the two presidents appeared to enjoy each other’s company. At the end of the conference, Yeltsin reached for Clinton’s hand, clasped it firmly, and both men grinned broadly and held the pose for quite a while.

Clinton stressed that the ability of Russia and the United States to disagree on such an important issue as the expansion of the alliance that was Moscow’s primary adversary for almost half a century and yet press forward on bilateral issues such as arms control showed how mature the relationship has become.

“We are partners, and . . . in any partnership, starting with society’s most basic partnership, a marriage, . . . there are sometimes disagreements,” said Clinton, who was seated in a wheelchair throughout the news conference. “But partnerships are bound together by shared values, shared interests and understanding that what you have in common is always more important than what divides you.”

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright repeated a theory that she said Yeltsin had espoused during a visit in Moscow a month earlier.

“There are certain decisions that can only be made by presidents, and we witnessed two strong presidents making decisions which created a breakthrough,” Albright said, referring to the agreements on nuclear arms reductions.

Although the two delegations were enthusiastic about the arms control resolutions, no real progress can be made until the Russian Duma and the U.S. Congress grant approval. There is no guarantee that their support will be forthcoming.

Yeltsin, however, was optimistic about his chances of persuading his parliament to go along with him.

In addition to the arms control developments, the two leaders agreed to continue negotiations on the charter governing the relationship between Russia and NATO, and they outlined plans for more aggressive support from the United States for Russia’s struggling economy and its integration into the world economy.

The centerpiece of the economic agreement was a plan to include Russia in the annual meeting of the Group of 7, not as a full member of the elite association of economic powerhouses but as a participant in what Clinton called the “Summit of the Eight,” which is scheduled for June in Denver.

Russia has long desired full membership in the G-7 but has long been excluded because its economy is not strong enough. For the last seven years, the Soviet Union and, later, Russia were invited to the meetings but never for the full length of the session.

Clinton also committed the United States to pressing for Russian membership in two other international economic groups--the World Trade Organization, which settles disputes between nations over tariffs and other trade arrangements, and the Paris Club, which tries to ease the debt burden of debtor nations.

The American president also pledged his government’s efforts to dramatically increase the investment dollars flowing into Russia, in exchange for assurances from Yeltsin that his government would seek new, clearer tax laws.

“Russia, in the end, cannot be the strong partner that we seek . . . unless ordinary Russian citizens receive the benefit of free markets and democracy,” Clinton said.

Although Clinton did not play the saxophone at this summit, as he did at an earlier one, and there were no reports of joint singing, the two leaders did share some laughs.

During a bit of banter in the morning session Friday, Clinton told Yeltsin that he had a hard time sleeping between midnight and 2 a.m. because of a “loud thumping” from the ceiling above him, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said later.

“Boris, I thought you had hired an extra-large Finn to stomp on my roof,” the president joked, and Yeltsin laughed, according to McCurry.

McCurry said he was unable to determine the real source of the noise that interrupted the president’s sleep and left him red-eyed and tired-looking during the news conference.

* GRUDGING ACCEPTANCE: Russia remains opposed, but it seems to accept that it can’t block NATO expansion. A19