The New York Times

Friday, December 10, 1999

Boris Yeltsin's Outburst

President Boris Yeltsin of Russia is known for his occasional bombast, some of it playful, some angry, some merely erratic. But when the man who commands the largest nuclear stockpile in the world rattles that arsenal after he gives his vintage bear hug to President Jiang Zemin of China, the scene is, at best, unsettling. There is reason for reassurance, however, in the calm response from the Clinton administration and the speedy effort by Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, to emphasize the stability of overall relations between the United States and Russia.

Recently ill with pneumonia and increasingly irritated at Western criticism of his country's war in Chechnya, Mr. Yeltsin accused President Clinton yesterday of forgetting that "Russia is a great power that possesses a full nuclear arsenal." The 68-year-old Russian leader also said during his visit to Beijing, in a reference to Mr. Clinton, "It has never been and never will be the case that he will dictate to the whole world how to live."

Mr. Yeltsin has reverted to adversarial rhetoric in the past, and American officials have learned to count on the transience of these outbursts. He was irritated in this case by the Clinton administration's warnings that Russia's military campaign in Chechnya would not achieve the desired result. Mr. Clinton tried to discount his Russian counterpart's comments by saying, "We can't get too serious about that." Meanwhile, Mr. Putin assured the administration that Russian-United States relations were not as strained as Mr. Yeltsin had made them out to be, despite the two nations' differences on Chechnya.

Mr. Clinton has hardly been strident in his criticism of Russia's brutal Chechen policy. He has not called for sanctions or an end to aid for Moscow, as have several American presidential candidates. But the president has repeatedly said that Russia's policy -- pursuing terrorists by leveling Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and killing innocent civilians -- is inhumane. He also argues that the war is self-defeating, both militarily and ultimately for Russia's longer-range goals of being considered by the world as a more enlightened nation.

Russia should absorb that analysis and move toward a political settlement in Chechnya. Meanwhile, despite Mr. Yeltsin's outburst, the signals from the White House and Mr. Putin underscored an important point about the larger framework of Russian-American relations. Both countries have a strong interest in seeing continued progress on combating nuclear proliferation and safeguarding the transition to democracy represented by Russia's parliamentary election on Dec. 19 and its presidential election next year.