The Clinton Presidential Library has made accessible a trove of newly declassified documents chronicling the relationship between President Bill Clinton and the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin from 1996 to 1999. The transcripts of phone calls and meetings, with an occasional memo thrown in, add up to a more-than-five-hundred-page record of a friendship.
In the earlier chapters of this story, Yeltsin is embattled, facing a difficult—at times, it seems, hopeless—reëlection battle, and Clinton stands by his side, a steadfast source of support. Later, when Yeltsin feels secure in his post and Clinton, too, is entering the final stages of his Presidency, the two men are friends with an easy rapport. They exchange hugs. They joke with each other. During a meeting in Birmingham, England, in May of 1998, Yeltsin seems to be satisfied quickly and become bored. He says that there are many things his people have prepared for him to talk about. “Why don’t I just give you these?” he says, and hands Clinton his briefing cards. Clinton then hands over his own. “And they are classified ‘confidential,’ ” Georgy Mamedov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, comments “in mock astonishment,” according to the transcript.
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