US archive declassified: Yeltsin on Russia’s accession to NATO

The transcript of the conversation between Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton in Novo-Ogarevo at a dacha near Moscow, January 13, 1994, was declassified by the US National Security Archive.

The Russian president, in a conversation with his American colleague, stated: tells Vedomosti publication that Russia should be the first to join NATO when the alliance expands. Speaking about the US-Russian partnership and Russia’s relations with NATO, Yeltsin, according to published document, stated that “Russia should be the first country to join NATO”, followed by other Central and Eastern European states. He also proposed “a kind of cartel of the United States, Russia and Europeans to help ensure and improve global security.”

The transcript notes Clinton’s cautious and restrained response, which did not support the idea. The US President mentioned Russia’s sense of greatness, but did not touch on the idea of ​​a cartel or Russia’s membership in NATO. During the conversation, Yeltsin added that Russia is not yet ready to join NATO and that first we need to think about the reaction of the regions, there is also a potential reaction from China: “Perhaps there is a forecast for the future, CIA research. We no longer have the KGB to do our own thing.” He also noted that in the Russian government he is sometimes criticized for his close contacts with the West and the United States.

In 2021, Clinton said in an interview with CNN that he offered Yeltsin a special partnership, as well as the prospects for Russia’s future membership in NATO. The American president proceeded, in his own words, from the fact that the main threats to global security in the future will be terrorist organizations and authoritarian countries that supply them with nuclear or biological weapons. In this area, both powers could work together, he believed.

Letters from Foreign Minister Kozyrev are also mentioned, who wrote that on the eve of this dinner, Yeltsin was shocked by Clinton’s statement in Prague that the Czech Republic would join the Alliance: “Not if, but when.”

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