Russia-United States Joint Statement on Privileges and Immunities The
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Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 / June 4 Russia-United States Joint Statement on Privileges and Immunities June 4, 2000 In connection with the signature of the NOTE: The joint statement was released by the Memorandum of Agreement Between the Office of the Press Secretary in conjunction with United States of America and the Russian Fed- the joint statement formally entitled, ‘‘Memo- eration on the Establishment of a Joint Center randum of Agreement Between the United States for the Exchange of Data From Early Warning of America and the Russian Federation on the Systems and Notifications of Missile Launches, Establishment of a Joint Center for the Exchange the Parties agree that U.S. citizens working at of Data From Early Warning Systems and Notifi- the JDEC that are placed on the list of adminis- cations of Missile Launches.’’ An original was not trative and technical personnel of the Embassy available for verification of the content of this joint of the United States of America in the Russian statement. Federation shall be accorded the corresponding privileges and immunities. The President’s News Conference With President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow June 4, 2000 President Putin. Good day, ladies and gentle- As you know, with my colleague, with the men. I will allow myself to begin summing up President of the United States, I signed several our 2 days of work with our guests and partners, documents, including statements on security. with the President of the United States, Mr. And many things are determined and defined Bill Clinton, and members of his team. For 2 there, and much is said in these documents. days now, we worked very intensively. And I The result I think can be summed up by saying have to say right off the bat that both in terms that we not only confirmed the high level of of the spirit and the quality of our talks, as our relations, but we also expressed the trend well as the results, the Russian side cannot but of the development of our relations between express its satisfaction. our two countries for the near future. We discussed issues of interest in our opinion I wanted to stress here, ladies and gentlemen, not only to the United States and the Russian the following, that over the last period of time, Federation but to the other countries, as well, say a year or even more, the relations between on global matters—all of mankind’s interest real- our two countries have been of a varied kind. ly lies here. We discussed in great detail every- At one time, we had relations increasing and thing that had been done in this very impor- improving; then they would be falling. But that tant—issues of interest to both of our sides, high level which was reached over the last 8 and that which have been in the last several years by the efforts of the Russian leadership years. We agree that we’re going to be acting and of the administration of President Clinton in this direction jointly in the future. allowed us to always find a way out of these We discussed the issues of new global threats, crises with honor, not only to reestablish good threats such as terrorism, narcotics, crime. We relations but also to solve problems where we talked about issues which, to our mind, have had disagreements. And we really cherish this. a certain solution; in the estimation of our I am pleased to note here that in these very American colleagues, maybe have a different tough questions, we observed not only a desire kind of a solution. We exchanged ideas and to speak but also to find joint and mutually opinions on issues to which we had different beneficial solutions. solutions in the past. These talks were very can- We discussed also topics that had to do with did, very open, and very topical. bilateral economic interests. Here I wanted to 1081 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:23 Feb 01, 2002 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 01081 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\PUBPAP~1\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 June 4 / Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 say that the Russian Federation, in the face of of a stable democracy. President Yeltsin led Rus- your humble servant and the Chairman of the sia to freedom. Under President Putin, Russia Government, the Prime Minister, Mr. Kasyanov, has the chance to build prosperity and strength, the leading ministers of the Government who while safeguarding that freedom and the rule participated and took part in these talks and of law. negotiations, not only informed and described We’ve had good discussions both last night to our American guests what’s happening eco- and today on a range of common interests, in- nomically in Russia today but also discussed with cluding nonproliferation and arms control. We our partners joint actions, joint activities, both expressed our differences with clarity and can- of a bilateral nature as well as within the frame- dor. And I, for one, appreciate that. The impor- work of international financial institutions. tance of this relationship to ourselves and the I wanted to stress here as well that the Rus- world demands that we take every opportunity sian Federation aims not only to go through we can to find common ground and that, where its transformation, about which many people have so much spoken, but very decisively to we cannot find it, we express our differences do so in a practical way. I mean moving ahead with clarity and candor. on the tax code and moving ahead on produc- I congratulated President Putin on the key tion sharing. Here we have some issues which role he played in the Duma’s ratification of we have not yet been able to resolve between START II and the Comprehensive Test Ban us and the State Duma, but I think these are Treaty. The United States ratified START II rather technical issues. I think, together with first, and I hope we will now follow Russia in the Deputies in the State Duma, we’re going ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. to be trying to find solutions and finally get I also look forward to the ratification of the this legislation. START II protocols by our Senate so that we We spoke about the upcoming international can get about the business of further reducing events, the Okinawa summit, the Millennium the number of nuclear missiles that we have. summit in the United Nations in New York, I am very pleased today we agreed on two the Brunei meeting. In this way, Mr. Clinton other major steps to reduce the nuclear danger. and myself, we have reached an accord on fur- We reached an important agreement each to ther joint progress along a whole series of issues, destroy 34 tons of military-grade plutonium, which not only we discussed today and yesterday enough to make thousands of warheads—this and which we will still have an opportunity to raw weapon material that will now never fall discuss some more tomorrow, to move ahead into the wrong hands. on these issues at the events that I have listed. We also agreed to establish a joint data ex- On behalf of the leadership of the Russian change center in Moscow to share early warning Federation, I want to thank the American dele- information on missile and space launches. This gation not only for accepting our invitation and is terribly important. It is the first permanent coming to Russia but for a very constructive U.S.-Russia military operation ever. In this new and businesslike discussion in an attempt to find center, Russian and American military officials solutions. Thank you so much for your attention. will be working side by side, 24 hours a day, President Clinton. I would like to first thank to monitor missile warning information. It is a President Putin and the Russian delegation for milestone in enhancing strategic stability, and making us feel welcome and for these talks. I welcome it. I have come to Moscow at an important time. The President and I also discussed our com- Russia, after all, has a new President, new gov- mon commitment to prevent the proliferation ernment, new Duma. Its economy is showing of missile technology and our determination to encouraging signs of growth. This gives Russia exert firm control over exports of sensitive tech- a pivotal opportunity to build on the strong nology and strictly enforce export control laws record of engagement between our two coun- and regulations. tries. It is also an opportunity for the United We discussed our common interest in com- States. mercial space cooperation, including the success- I welcome President Putin’s interest in build- ful joint venture that launches commercial sat- ing a Russia that enjoys the enduring strength ellites. We agreed that our teams would soon 1082 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 10:23 Feb 01, 2002 Jkt 010199 PO 00000 Frm 01082 Fmt 1240 Sfmt 1240 C:\PUBPAP~1\PAP_TEXT txed01 PsN: txed01 Administration of William J. Clinton, 2000 / June 4 meet to discuss future cooperation in the com- icy that causes so many civilian casualties with- mercial space area, with the aim of moving to- out a political solution ultimately cannot suc- ward eliminating existing constraints on com- ceed. I also urged President Putin to move for- mercial space launches. ward with transparent and impartial investiga- We also had a thorough discussion of our tions of the stories of human rights violations work on the START III treaty and the issue and to authorize a speedy return of the OSCE of national missile defense.