YELTSIN AND CLINTON DISCUSS MILITARY EXPORT CONTROLS.

Among the topics discussed by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton in Birmingham on May 17 was Washington’s continued concern over alleged cooperation between Iran and Russia in the development of Iranian ballistic missiles. After the meeting, Clinton told reporters that the two had discussed the issue “in some significant detail” and that they had reached understandings that “will bear fruit.” Clinton said that Yeltsin had, among other things, given him assurances that Moscow has taken new steps to clamp down on any possible leaking of such missile technologies. According to U.S. National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Yeltsin also told Clinton that the Kremlin had just implemented an executive order aimed at limiting exports of military technology. Yeltsin reportedly said that Moscow is creating a new government entity to improve control over high-tech exports, including those to Iran. “It is clear that President Yeltsin wants to stop this flow of technology,” Berger said. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, also present during the Yeltsin-Clinton talks, put it even more strongly. He said that Yeltsin had “reaffirmed in the clearest and most unambiguous terms” his commitment to ending the flow of missile technology to Iran. (AP May 17; The New York Times, May 18)

FRESH PLEDGES FROM MOSCOW TO CONTROL MISSILE TECHNOLOGIES.