MOSCOW, SEPT 1: At his summit with US President Bill Clinton today, Russia President Boris Yeltsin vowed to continue market reforms despite the unprecedented financial crisis in Russia.Yeltsin's pledge came just a day after Clinton assured Russia that Washington would support Kremlin if it doesn't backtrack on market reforms.Clinton pledged continued US support for Russia as long as its leaders ``stay on the path of reform'' and do not revert to the Communist ways of the past.With a message of support but no financial help, the US President urged Russians to reject the ``failed policies of the past'' in coping with their current economic crisis.``Given the facts before you, I have to tell you that I do not believe there are any painless solutions,'' Clinton told a new generation of Russian leaders at Moscow state university of international relations.He repeatedly said that Russia must play by the rules of international commerce.With Russia's economic turmoil throwing the summit agenda intouncertainty, Clinton addressed the crisis with frankness, but offered no specific ideas on how the infant democracy could weather the tailspin of its currency.The summit is being held against Russia reeling from the ongoing economic and political turmoil with several Duma leaders asking Yeltsin to cancel it.Meanwhile, the first agreement to trickle out was a joint pledge to eliminate some stockpiles of plutonium taken from dismantled missile warheads.``Clinton and I know one another well, and we are friends,'' Yeltsin said earlier at a Moscow school.Republican senator Pete Domenici who flew here with Clinton, told a media person today that the two Presidents would sign tomorrow an agreement to get rid of about 50 metric tons of plutonium on each side and break down the weapons material so it cannot be used for military purposes.``We both have way more than we need,'' Domenici said.A draft of the leaders' joint statement said the plutonium would be withdrawn in stages, with financingarrangements to be set by year's end.The draft said: Measures to manage and reduce such stockpiles are an essential element of irreversible arms reduction efforts and necessary to ensure that these materials do not become a proliferation risk.The situation in South Asia may also come up for discussion during the two-day summit talks between Yeltsin and Clinton, in the context of regional security, an anonymous Foreign Minisitry official said.A joint statement on global security may include a call on India and Pakistan to sign the NPT and CTBT, the official said.``But Kashmir is not on agenda,'' the official said. ``Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, Russia opposes internationalisation of Kashmir,'' the official noted.Earlier, Viktor Chernomyrdin, acting prime minister, met Clinton and his wife, Hillary, at the Moscow airport.As the two Presidents posed for photo opportunities, many Muscovites on the streets were not even aware of Clinton's visit. They stood in longqueues before the banks to withdraw their savings.
