International History Declassified

A U.S. summary of a meeting between Bill Clinton and Helmut Kohl.

Kohl and Clinton review the state of NATO enlargement after the January 1994 NATO Summit in Brussels. They view NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP) as the best solution to engage Russia and to reach out to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Both view the situation in Ukraine as a key factor in the search for Europe's post-Cold War order. "If anything happened in Ukraine, this would increase the pressure for the NATO accession of the Central and Eastern European countries," Clinton says.

Kohl and Clinton review the recently concluded trilateral agreement on Ukraine's denuclearization and Clinton's contacts with Yeltsin and Ukraine's President Kravchuk.

Kohl and Yeltsin debate the situation in Russia after end of the constitutional crisis.

Kohl and Clinton discuss plans for NATO enlargement and the need to find a modus vivendi for an intermediate period as a way to balance Russia's engagement and the security interests of the Central and East European countries. Kohl has doubts over the feasibility of NATO enlargement but is willing to search for an intermediary solution.