(17 Oct 1996) Spanish/Nat
The United States has been to quick to express confidence in Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his sacking of controversial national security advisor Alexander Lebed.
U-S State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns told reporters that bilateral relations were good and would continue to stay that way.
Burns said President Yeltsin was within his rights to pick and choose his ministers and that the Clinton administration was confident Yeltsin's government would remain stable despite concerns for his health.
And U-S defense officials say there is no sign overt signs of unrest in other parts of the Russian government.
The U-S has been quick to put a distance between itself and President Boris Yeltsin's decision to sack his security chief, declaring it an internal matter.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is the business of the Russian people and of the Russian government and obviously President Yeltsin, who is fully in charge in Russia, has made a decision that he thinks is best for himself, for the Russian government and for the Russian nation. I can tell you that U-S/Russian relations are stable, stable and in fact quite good."
SUPER CAPTION: Nicholas Burns, State Department Spokesman
The State Department says it believes that its bilateral relations with Russia will remain good.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have a very solid relationship with President Yeltsin, with Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, with Chief of Staff Anatoly Chubais, with Foreign Minister Primakov, we have an outstanding American Ambassador Tom Pickering, we're confident that U-S-Russian relations will remain stable, admittedly in a time of some political turmoil in Russia."
SUPER CAPTION: Nicholas Burns, State Department Spokesman
And, that Yeltsin was within his right to hire and fire staff as Russian president.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The fact is that the elected Russian President, the first President elected in one thousand years of Russian history, made a decision this morning which was in strictly legal and constitutional terms his decision to make. He appointed Mr. Lebed, he certainly had a right to decide whether Mr. Lebed should stay in this government or not. This is what we're seeing here, some political infighting in Moscow. That's what we're seeing."
SUPER CAPTION: Nicholas Burns, State Department Spokesman
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"President Yeltsin and Mr. Chubais and Mr. Chernomyrdin have already talked about how the decision-making will occur when President Yeltsin is in the hospital, we have absolute confidence that everything's being done to pave a stable relationship with Russia and other countries, including the United States."
SUPER CAPTION: Nicholas Burns, State Department Spokesman
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"The embassy in Moscow reports absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, no signs of increased military presence."
SUPER CAPTION: Capt. Michael Doubleday, U-S Defence spokesman
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