Word: chernomyrdin
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...Russia would serve as Exhibit A in proving his readiness to step into the President's job. Now it makes him accountable for the Administration's decisions. He will face questions about where the money that he helped pump into Moscow actually went and about his friendship with Viktor Chernomyrdin while the former Prime Minister was suspected of stashing away millions. Administration officials concede that they underestimated the groundswell of corruption that came with Russian privatization. They had plenty of intelligence about the kleptocratic shenanigans, but didn't want to let it derail more important business like nuclear security...
Gore can claim direct involvement in the breakthrough. He and then Prime Minister Chernomyrdin had sat across many tables over six years, negotiating issues from safeguards on plutonium to trade disputes over frozen chicken legs. But never had their knowledge and trust of each other been so tested as on May 3. On that day, Chernomyrdin came as Russia's Balkan envoy to Gore's Victorian mansion in Washington to discuss the situation in Yugoslavia. Sitting down at the Vice President's dining-room table, they could not have known they were putting into motion the strategy that would ultimately...
During two hours of intense talks that night, Chernomyrdin warned Gore and other top U.S. officials that he could not do alone what the West was asking. As a result, the next morning, at the same table, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright came up with the name of Finnish President Ahtisaari as Chernomyrdin's likely partner. And as everyone stood to leave, Gore told Chernomyrdin that there was something else he should have. He handed the Russian a manila envelope containing a reminder of the most fundamental reason why both countries needed to succeed--a draft of a yet unreleased...
Already, the war has taken its toll on public opinion about both the performance of the Clinton-Gore Administration and the direction of the country in general. And it remains far from certain that Gore and Chernomyrdin can meet the standard of success they agreed upon that night last month: the safe return of Kosovar refugees. Still, it is hard to imagine a worse disaster for Gore than the prospect of a campaign season with U.S. ground troops in a war with the Serbs...
Which may explain why one of the first things Gore did on getting back to Washington was send Chernomyrdin a congratulatory note. Sometimes, he has learned, personal touches make all the difference...