Deputy Secretary Talbott met with Media Most Vice Chairman Igor Malashenko December 8. Malashenko reviewed the domestic political situation. He said Yeltsin would remain in office until 2000 at all costs, and suggested that Luzhkov had the best shot at succeeding him. He was positive on Yavlinskiy's strength, and saw him as a possible kingmaker and prime minister in 2000. He viewed the changes in the Presidential Administration darkly, particularly given the military counterintelligence backgrounds of key figures there and in Primakov's entourage. He said that the fate of FSB Director Putin, a Chubays protege, would be a litmus test of intentions on safeguarding civil liberties. Malashenko admitted Media Most and NTV had been severely weakened by the crisis. To buy time for the 18-24 months he estimated it would take the economy to recover, Gusinskiy was negotiating to sell a further 25 percent of the company to Gazprom.

Kohl and Yeltsin talk about the convocation of regular German-Russian summits including their relevant ministers. They review Yeltsin's meeting with Clinton in Helsinki on NATO enlargmement in March 1997 when Yeltsin gave his consent to the conclusion of a NATO-Russia partnership treaty based on the condition that NATO would not deploy nuclear armaments and permanent conventional forces in its new member states. Kohl points to the long-term perspective and the importance of concluding the NATO-Russia Founding Act.