Putin and Talbott discuss the Russian Duma elections, Chechnya, Georgia, Iran's nuclear program, and START-2.

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 Major discuss the impact of the war in former Yugoslavia on the Muslim world, the European Community and domestic U.S. policy. Both agree that there was a window of opportunity for a settlement before the winter.

Kohl and Yeltsin discucss the parallelism between NATO enlargement and Russia's engagement and the timing of NATO enlargement in particular. Yeltsin expresses his disappointment about the lack of progress in the U.S.-Russian talks on the issue complaining that the "the West was about to relapse into the thinking of military blocs prior to 1990. This was not acceptable," Yeltsin says. Moreover, Kohl and Yeltsin discuss Russian sales of nuclear power plants for Iran.

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 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.

During their first meeting, Kohl and Clinton examine the relevance of their joint support for Yeltsin and the need for more international financial aid for Russia agains the backdrop of the forthcoming Clinton-Yeltsin meeting in Vancouver in early April. Moreover, Kohl and Clinton discuss the relevance of intensified U.S.-German ties in the fields of culture, education and trade after the end of the Cold War.

Kohl and Yeltsin analyze the domestic situation in Russia and Yeltsin's preparations for a referendum on the constitution in 1993. Kohl raises the issue of the two very recent contradicting speeches by  Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev at the CSCE Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Stockholm. Kohl reiterates that this issue was 'very bad from a psychological standpoint" asking Yeltsin to clarify this during their joint press conference.

Kohl and his American interlocutors discuss Germany's new international role after unification and particularly Germany's ties to the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Kohl comes out against American request for German "leadership." He does not want to use the term albeit he acknowledges Germany's responsibility to assume  leadership on a multitude of issues.

Kohl and Yeltsin debate Russia's economic reforms and the situation in the Commonwealth of Independent States as well as Western financial aid and preparations for the 1992 World Economic Summit in Munich and especially Russia's participation. Moreover, they review the prospects of Honecker's release from the Chilean embassy in Moscow.