They hardly looked at each other and certainly didn't smile. Gone was the Bill and Boris Yeltsin backslapping as of old. The new relationship between the United States and Russia is, as these men expressed, much more businesslike and realistic. The old illusions have gone. Russia has been through a hard time and faces a hard future.
Nobody quite knows where it is going to end up.
The main issue was the American proposal to develop an anti-missile defence system. This would be based in Alaska and would defend against a potential threat from North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles, which the US believes will be ready in about five years' time. Such a system would contravene the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and Mr Clinton wants the Russians to agree to a change to it. Deadlock This issue therefore remains deadlocked and casts a cloud over the whole relationship, because the Americans are on a course to deploy such a system if they can test it successfully, which they have not yet done. Both men were well informed and eager to hear the other's opinion, but they clearly did not agree with each other's opinion Mr Clinton, in turn, was absolutely clear that he would if necessary take a decision to deploy.