Rutskoy, the Space Joke, and the Management of Boris Yeltsin
A working dinner in Vancouver was kept secret for decades, masking a strategic preference for Russian autocracy behind a veneer of first-name chemistry.
By Vera Kessler ·
Bill Clinton
Yeltsin and the 1993 Vancouver Script for a Russian Partnership
Clinton and Yeltsin coordinated a facade of unanimity while the U.S. used aid packages to coerce Russian compliance on North Korea and Iraq, a transaction hidden from the public for years.
By Eleanor Voss ·
Usama bin Ladin and the Financial Noose of August 20
Following the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the assets of Usama bin Ladin were frozen on the same day missiles struck Afghanistan and Sudan.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Bill Clinton and the 1994 Bid to Brand Boris Yeltsin
A one-on-one meeting in the Kremlin, kept from public view for decades, shows the U.S. treating the Russian presidency as a PR project to be managed after a populist surge
By Marcus Boone ·
Boris Yeltsin and the Vancouver Deal to Buy Russian Officers out of Tents
For thirty years, the one-on-one session between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin remained blacked out, hiding the price of stability in a collapsing superpower
By Desmond Okafor ·
Boris Yeltsin and the 65 Russians Held Hostage to a Nuclear Swap
A list of 65 trapped citizens and the threat of sanctions over Indian missiles defined a 1993 Tokyo summit, where a facade of friendship masked a cold transactional hunger for nuclear warheads.
By Eleanor Voss ·
Goodman and Carlucci’s 1998 War Over Military Readiness
A weekly briefing to President Clinton tracked a public clash between DOD officials over the Kyoto Protocol while the administration's policy hit a wall in Congress
By Marcus Boone ·
Bill Clinton and the 1997 Calculation to Burn Russian Democracy
Russian reformers were treated as an acceptable loss in a strategic gamble documented in a 1997 draft letter that prioritized alliance growth over the stability of Moscow's democratic wing.
By Roy Castellano ·
Todd Stern and the 1998 Push for Unrestricted Carbon Trading
Bill Clinton and Al Gore were urged to use personal diplomatic outreach to break a deadlock over emissions markets before a November summit in Buenos Aires
By Theo Marchetti ·
Viktor Chernomyrdin and the 1995 Price of a Moscow Parade
While Russian federal troops conducted "mop-up" operations in Samashki, Washington spent April 10, 1995, ensuring the diplomatic weather was clear for a WWII anniversary.
By Constance Bell ·
Vladimir Putin and the 1999 Pledge to Ignore Yeltsin
Putin spent a 1999 summit convincing Bill Clinton that campaign rhetoric was irrelevant, while masking a pre-arranged succession with vague promises of "certain plans."
By Constance Bell ·
Boris Yeltsin and the 1999 Pact to Install Vladimir Putin
A Russian president promised to ensure a specific winner in the next election, a detail kept from the broader diplomatic corps under a "not distributed" order for 25 years.
By Harlan Pryce ·
Vladimir and the Price of a 'Historic Milestone'
The White House consciously ignored the manipulation of the 2000 Russian transition to secure a partner who offered a token human rights gesture in Chechnya—a deal kept secret for decades.
By Constance Bell ·
Yeltsin Asked Clinton for $2.5 Billion Loan for 1996 Election
Russian pensions and wages hung in the balance as Boris Yeltsin pleaded for a massive American infusion of cash to secure his grip on power before the 1996 vote.
By Marcus Boone ·
Boris Yeltsin Asked Bill Clinton to Scrap the Nuclear Football
Marked confidential for years, the record shows Boris Yeltsin’s failed effort to remove the briefcase of nuclear apocalypse from the hands of military aides.
By Roy Castellano ·
Vladimir Putin dismissed Georgian unity while waging war in Chechnya
Civilians perished in Chechnya while the Russian Prime Minister played a geopolitical game with Bill Clinton in Oslo, a meeting captured in a 1999 memorandum of conversation.
By Harlan Pryce ·