Records on Bush-Yeltsin Summits

The materials in FOIA 2000-1334-F are a selective, not necessarily all inclusive, body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Researchers should consult the archivist about related materials. FOIA 2000-1334-F contains materials related to the summit meetings held between President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin at Camp David in February 1992 and Washington, DC in June of that same 2 2000-1334-F year. These meetings took place in the wake of great international change; the Soviet Union (USSR) had recently dissolved during the previous summer, with several former member republics (including Russia) reforming as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Several of the other former Soviet Republics asserted their independence and joined the community of nations at large. The impetus behind the meetings was to establish a new relationship between the newly-independent Russia and the United States (and their leaders), to determine the form that relationship would take, and to address and appraise the new military, diplomatic, and economic circumstances that existed as a result of the demise of the USSR. White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject File categories contain letters, faxes, cables, and routine memoranda to the President and his staff from private citizens, business leaders, and members at various levels of local, state, and federal government entreating the President to discuss matters of import to the correspondents or raising questions regarding issues that the President and his staff intended to raise in the meetings with the Russian leader. These issues include (but are not limited to): Congressional interest in Yeltsin's disclosure of possible existence of American Prisoners of War (POW) in Russia, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), potential business ventures and interests of American-owned companies in the CIS, territorial and military claims by former Soviet Republics (especially Ukraine) and the disposition of arms and troops in those countries, co-operation between the space programs of the United States and Russia (including the use of Russian rockets to launch U.S. payloads), and agricultural trade with Russia. Additional materials in the Subject File records include schedules and itineraries of the President, First Lady, and President and Mrs. Yeltsin, including details regarding the arrival ceremony, state dinners, and meetings themselves (protocol, timetables, participants, speeches/toasts, etc.). Included are the meeting schedules of Presidents Bush and Yeltsin, as well as Mrs. Bush's trip with Mrs. Yeltsin to Mount Vernon, Virginia and Martha's Table (a Washington- area soup kitchen). The Staff and Office Files are the majority of the materials in this request, most of which are from the files of the National Security Council (NSC). These files are listed, yet it should be noted that the vast majority of the records are security classified and have been closed in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). These records include reports, papers, briefing books, memoranda, cables, letters, press releases, speech transcripts, memoranda of conversation (memcons), and memoranda of telephone conversations (telcons). The primary topics of these documents are discussions themselves. include sharing of technology between the U.S. and Russia, economic reform in Russia, economic and agricultural aid to Russia and other CIS member states, disposition and protection of chemical weapons and Soviet nuclear warheads, nuclear testing/non-proliferation (START Treaty and limitations on Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, and Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles), fostering democracy in Russia, and launch of U.S.-made INMARSAT satellite by Russian rockets. Other records include non-policy/procedural material regarding the social events (arrival ceremony, state dinner, etc.) surrounding the meetings. These materials consist of menus, invitation lists, speech cards, joint statements, and correspondence regarding the entertainment and fare at the ceremonies and dinners. The Vice Presidential Records consist of non-substantial materials (itineraries, schedules, routine memoranda) regarding Vice President Quayle's meetings with the Russian President and his advisors, as well as the Kennedy Center dinner given by the VP in honor of the Russian President. Read less