Bill Clinton: “Thank you very much, Rector Sadovnichy, Mrs. Sadovnichy. To the faculty and, most of all, to the students of Moscow…”

“Thank you very much, Rector Sadovnichy, Mrs. Sadovnichy. To the faculty and, most of all, to the students of Moscow State University, I am deeply honored to be here and to be here just a few years after my predecessor President Reagan also spoke to the students. I can think of no better place than a great seat of learning like Moscow State University to speak about the past and future of Russia. In this spirit, Mikhail Lomonosov lives on, for just as he modernized your ancient language for the Russian people two centuries ago, today you must take the lead in shaping a new language, a language of democracy that will help all Russia to chart a new course for your ancient land. Here, you openly debate the pressing issues of the day. And though you can only hear echoes of your nation's history, you are living it and making it as you ponder and prepare for what is yet to come. Yesterday all of Russia and much of the entire world paused to remember the end of World War II and the terrible, almost unimaginable price the peoples of the Soviet Union paid for survival and for victory. Because our alliance with you was shattered at the war's end by the onset of the cold war, Americans never fully appreciated, until yesterday, the true extent of your sacrifice and its contribution to our common victory. And the Russian people were denied the full promise of that victory in World War II, a victory that bought the West five decades of freedom and prosperity. Now the cold war is over.…”