Site Information: Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union
Title: Russia
Public Affairs
Source: Bureau of Public Affairs, Office of Public
Communication
Description: Washington, DC
Date: Aug 13, 19928/13/92
Category: Fact Sheets
Region: Eurasia
Country: Russia, USSR (former)
Subject: History, Democratization, Trade/Economics,
Cultural Exchange
Map: Central, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Republics
[TEXT]
US-Russian Relations
In a statement issued on February 1, 1992, following their historic
meeting at Camp David, Maryland, Presidents Bush and Yeltsin
outlined the principles which would characterize the new
relationship between the United States and Russia. The two leaders
emphasized that in the future their countries would look upon each
other as friends and partners with a common commitment to
democracy and economic freedom. They agreed to reduce their
strategic arsenals, expand free trade and investment between their
two countries, and promote democratic values, the rule of law, and
respect for human rights. They pledged to work together to prevent
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to support the
peaceful settlement of disputes. President Bush looked ahead to "an
era of peace and friendship that offers hope not only to our peoples
but to the peoples of the world."
During his first state visit to Washington, DC, June 15-17,
1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with President Bush,
Secretary of State Baker, Secretary of Defense Cheney, and other
senior-level government officials. The two countries concluded a
wide range of specific agreements on political, security, and trade
issues (See Dispatch, Vol. 3, No. 25, June 22, 1992). These included
an agreement to extend reciprocal most-favored-nation tariff
treatment to the products of each country; a bilateral investment
treaty guaranteeing non-discriminatory treatment for US investors
in Russia; a treaty for the avoidance of double taxation; and an
agreement allowing the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to
make its investment insurance, finance, and promotion programs
available to US businesses considering investing in Russia. In the
area of arms control, Presidents Bush and Yeltsin agreed on specific
limits for further reductions in strategic offensive arms, far
beyond those called for in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
(START). They agreed that these lower limits should be codified in
a new treaty promptly.
President Bush and President Yeltsin signed additional accords
in the following areas:
* Cooperation in space exploration and the use of space
technology;
* Efforts to achieve the global elimination of chemical
weapons;
* Expansion of contacts between the scientific and
technological communities;
* Abolition of diplomatic travel restrictions;
* Establishment of a US-Russian Defense Conversion
Committee to facilitate defense conversion through expanded trade
and investment;
* Joint exploration of the benefits of a global protection
system against potential ballistic missile attacks;
* Establishment of a Peace Corps program with a focus on
small enterprise development; and
* Financial assistance to expedite the transport,
safeguarding, and destruction of Russia's nuclear and chemical
weapons stockpile.
The United States has pledged to support Russia in its
transition to democratic institutions and to a free market economy.
Through Operation Provide Hope, launched on February 10, 1992, the
United States has provided emergency humanitarian assistance
throughout Russia to meet critical shortages. The United States,
with other members of the Group of Seven industrialized countries,
is contributing to a multilateral aid program, which will make
available to the former Soviet republics $24 billion in International
Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and bilateral assistance. The
program includes a $6-billion fund to help stabilize the ruble.
President Bush has proposed new legislation, the Freedom for
Russia and Emerging Eurasian Democracies and Open Markets
(FREEDOM) Support Act, which would authorize additional US aid for
Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union, including
commodity credits for the purchase of US agricultural products,
new loan guarantees, and the elimination of existing restrictions
limiting US business activities in the new states.
US initiatives announced on May 23, 1992, at the Lisbon
Conference on Assistance to the New Independent States will
expand the range of international aid. These initiatives include
proposals to reduce the risk of accidents at Soviet-designed nuclear
reactors, to use funds generated by the sale of donated commodities
for social programs, and to accelerate the conversion of enterprises
from defense to civilian production.
The US and Russia have begun to define a new security
partnership emphasizing the need for nuclear safety and the
dismantlement of nuclear weapons. At the Lisbon conference, the
United States signed a protocol to the START Treaty with Russia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine (those states on whose territory
nuclear weapons are located). The protocol makes the four states
party to the treaty and commits all signatories to reductions in
strategic nuclear weapons within the 7-year period provided for in
the treaty. Russia and the other new independent states also have
agreed to the provisional application, beginning July 17, 1992, of
the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, which reduces
stockpiles of tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles.
On April 10, 1992, the Deputy Secretary of State certified that
the Russian Federation had met the criteria required under the
Soviet Nuclear Threat Reduction Act for financial assistance to
dismantle and destroy nuclear and chemical weapons and to develop
a retraining program for scientists. The United States and Russia
are engaged in discussions on safety, security, and dismantlement
of nuclear weapons. The United States is helping establish an
international science and technology center to assist Russian
scientists and engineers in re-directing their talents to non-
military activities.
Consolidating Democracy
In free elections in June 1991, Boris Yeltsin was elected President
of the Russian Federation. Political influence in Russia's
parliament is split between the pro-reform and conservative blocs,
with a small uncommitted group serving as a swing vote. Dozens of
small political parties representing a wide range of points of view
exist in Russia. Several of the pro-reform parties are loosely allied
as the Democratic Russia movement. The Russian Communist Party
has been banned by presidential decree.
A leader among the new independent states in moving toward
market reforms and democratic principles, Russia has introduced
freedom of speech and religion and has pledged to safeguard
internationally recognized human rights, including the protection of
minorities. The KGB, once the official secret police organization of
the Soviet Union, has been split into two organizations: the
Ministry of Security, which took over the KGB's domestic functions,
and the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
On December 27, 1991, Russia assumed the seat formerly held
by the Soviet Union in the UN Security Council. Russia also is a
member of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and
the North Atlantic Cooperation Council.
Economic Conditions
The Russian Federation comprises roughly three-quarters of the
territory of the former USSR and more than one-half of its
population. Its agricultural production includes grain and potatoes,
with its output accounting for more than one-half of the former
USSR's production. It is rich in energy sources, including coal, oil,
and natural gas. Two-thirds of its oil production and two-thirds of
its natural gas production come from Siberia. In 1988, Russia
accounted for more than 50% of net output in all major sectors of
the former USSR.
Russia has begun the transition from a centrally planned to a
free market economy. The government currently seeks to restrict
its spending, credit, and monetary supply, while keeping industrial
production from dropping too sharply. Structural reforms, including
privatization of state enterprises, have lagged behind monetary reform.
On June 1, 1992, Russia became a member of the IMF.
Arrangements for Russia to draw a first credit of $1 billion to
support economic reform are underway; however, an IMF-supported
"stand-by" program giving the Russians any further access to
funding is not likely until autumn 1992.
Russia at a Glance
Many ethnically diverse peoples migrated into the East European
plain, but the East Slavs remained and gradually became dominant.
Predecessors of the modern Russians, the East Slavs first appeared
in the steppe region north of the Black Sea. Kievan Rus', the first
East Slavic state, emerged in the late 9th century AD, coinciding
with the arrival of Scandinavian traders and warriors, the
Varangians. According to tradition, a Varangian named Rurik first
established himself peaceably at Novgorod by 860 and founded a
dynasty. Kievan Rus' was not able to maintain its position as a
powerful and prosperous state. Nevertheless, it left a strong
legacy, and its traditions were adapted to form the Russian state.
When the Mongols invaded Kievan Rus' in the 13th century,
Moscow was an insignificant trading outpost in the principality of
Vladimir-Suzdal'. The greatest expansion of the principality of
Muscovy took place under the rule of Ivan III (1461-1505), who took
the title of Czar and "Ruler of all Rus'." By the beginning of the
16th century, Muscovy had united virtually all ethnically Russian
lands. Under the guidance of two Western-looking monarchs, Peter
the Great (1682-1725) and Catherine the Great (1762-96), Muscovy
was transformed from an isolated, traditional state into the
dynamic, powerful Russian Empire which played an increasingly
active role in the affairs of Europe. In 1917, the Bolsheviks
overthrew the czarist regime, ending 3 centuries of Romanov rule.
On December 30, 1922, Bolshevik leaders established the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics on territory generally corresponding to
that of the old Russian Empire. With the breakup of the Soviet Union
in December 1991, Russia became a sovereign, independent country.
As of January 1, 1990, Russia's population was 148 million, of
whom 81.5% are ethnic Russians. The territory of Russia is about
17 million square kilometers, or roughly three-fourths of the entire
former Soviet Union.
Principal Government Officials
President: Boris Yeltsin
Foreign Minister: Andrei Kozyrev
Capital: Moscow