Former US President Bill Clinton had repeatedly threatened Boris Yeltsin, the then President of Russia, with economic sanctions over a nuclear and defence co-operation deal with India.

As per transcripts of the Washington-based National Security Archive declassified on June 5, 2023, although there were disagreements between Washington DC and Moscow on India in 1993, there were assurances about a wide range of bilateral cooperation, with President Clinton’s early support.

The transcripts suggest that after his conversation with President Yeltsin on July 10, 1993, President Clinton announced that there was a productive exchange on various issues, including progress on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), between the two leaders. The transcripts mentioned that President Clinton had thanked his Russian counterpart for the latter’s support on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). However, he “raised the issue of possible sanctions if does not stop selling missile technologies to India”. In reply, Yeltsin told Clinton: “There should be no sanctions between friends. I cannot imagine sanctions between us.”

Former President Clinton had raised a Russian deal to supply missile technologies to India with President Yeltsin yet again during a telephonic conversation on June 28, 1993. The transcripts stated: “Without Russia cancelling the deal, the US might have to apply sanctions and Clinton would be limited in his ability to provide financial assistance.”

Then, President Yeltsin had reportedly explained to his US counterpart that the agreement between Russia and India was important for the Russian Defence Industry, which was trying hard to maintain production and keep its highly-trained specialists at that period of time. However, President Clinton pushed hard on this particular issue, linking it to his Government’s decision to give the Kremlin access to the US market for space launches, and oil and gas investments.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das