Russian President Boris Yeltsin lashed out at President Clinton in Beijing yesterday for his criticism of Russia's military tactics in Chechnya, reminding him that Russia had "a full arsenal of nuclear weapons". In a booming voice in the presence of a top Chinese official, the ailing Russian leader thundered that Mr Clinton would not dictate how the world should live - "it is we who will dictate". Mr Yeltsin's outburst caused the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, to put out a statement in Moscow qualifying, if not contradicting, his leader's remarks.
"I would consider it absolutely incorrect to produce the impression that there has been a cooling of Russian-American relations," Mr Putin said. "Russia has good relations with the US leadership and what Bill Clinton says shows he wants Russia to avoid problems." Mr Yeltsin arrived in Beijing yesterday morning for a summit meeting with President Jiang Zemin and other Chinese leaders. The last time Mr Yeltsin met the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Zhu Rongji, in Moscow, he blurted out: "We will not give you back the Kuriles," a Russian source revealed to The Irish Times yesterday. Ownership of the Kurile islands in the Sea of Japan is a matter of dispute between Russia and Japan, not China.
But the implied threat of nuclear confrontation is a much more serious matter, and Mr Yeltsin's words shocked the Beijing diplomatic corps. A Western diplomat said Mr Yeltsin had plumbed new depths of irresponsibility. "This is a sad spectacle of physical decline." If Mr Yeltsin came to China seeking international support for his Chechnya war in the face of Western criticism, he got what he wanted from Beijing, which, like Moscow, faces a separatist threat from Muslims in its western Xinjiang province.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Mr Igor Ivanov, told reporters: "President Jiang said he completely understood and fully supported Russia's actions in combating terrorism and extremism in Chechnya."
Mr Yeltsin's verbal assault on the US President came as he posed for photographs with Mr Li Peng, the second-ranking Chinese leader.
Referring to Mr Clinton's warning that Russia would pay a high price if it carried out its ultimatum to destroy Grozny, and that the US could consider blocking loans from the International Monetary Fund, Mr Yeltsin said: "We aren't afraid at all of Clinton's anti-Russian position."
According to the Russian Interfax news agency Mr Yeltsin said: "Clinton allowed himself to pressurise Russia yesterday. He must have forgotten for a moment what Russia is. It has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons. This has not happened in the past and it won't happen that he [Clinton] will dictate to people how to live.
"I want to tell Clinton not to forget what kind of a world he lives in. It has never been and never will be the case that he will dictate to the whole world how to live. No and again no. A multipolar world - that is the basis for everything. As we have agreed with Jiang Zemin. We will dictate to the world. Not him, not him alone."
A smiling Mr Li responded: "We understand you came to China under very special circumstances and we admire your spirit."
Mr Jiang and Mr Yeltsin later sipped white wine to toast the formal signing of agreements demarcating common borders that have been a source of friction for centuries. "From this moment, we no longer have any border problems," Mr Ivanov said. The Russian Foreign Minister added that the two sides also agreed in their opposition to a proposed US anti-missile defence programme and agreed to safeguard non-proliferation treaties and maintain the global strategic balance.