United States presidential visits to the Soviet Union and Russia

Eight United States presidents have made presidential visits to the Soviet Union and Russia since 1945. The first trip by an incumbent president to the Soviet Union was made by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was an offshoot of Allied diplomatic interactions during World War II. George H.W. Bush visited both the Soviet Union and, following the Soviet Union's collapse, Russia, its sole successor state.

Table of visits

President	Dates	Nation	cities	Highlights
Franklin D. Roosevelt	February 3–5, 1945	Soviet Union	Yalta	Attended the Yalta Conference with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.[1]
Richard Nixon	May 22–30, 1972		Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Kiev	State Visit. Met with Premier Alexei Kosygin and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev. Signing of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), and the U.S.–Soviet Incidents at Sea Agreement.[2] See Moscow Summit (1972).
	June 27 – July 3, 1974		Moscow, Minsk, Oreanda	Official Visit. Met with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, President Nikolai Podgorny and Premier Alexei Kosygin. Signing of the Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT).[2]
Gerald Ford	November 23–24, 1974		Vladivostok	Met with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and discussed limitations of strategic arms.[3] See Vladivostok Summit Meeting on Arms Control.
Ronald Reagan	May 29 – June 2, 1988		Moscow	Summit Meeting with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. Exchanged ratifications of the INF Treaty.[4] See Moscow Summit (1988).
George H. W. Bush	July 29 – August 1, 1991		Moscow, Kiev	Summit Meeting. Signed Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). Addressed the Ukrainian Parliament.[5]
	January 2–3, 1993	Russia	Moscow	Signed the START II Treaty.[5]
Bill Clinton	January 12–15, 1994		Moscow	Met with President Boris Yeltsin and senior Russian officials. Signed nuclear disarmament agreement with Ukraine.[6]
	May 9–11, 1995		Moscow	Summit meeting. Attended the 50th anniversary of VE Day ceremonies.[6]
	April 18–21, 1996		Saint Petersburg, Moscow	Attended the G-7 summit on nuclear safety. Summit Meeting with President Boris Yeltsin.[6]
	September 1–3, 1998		Moscow	Summit Meetig with President Boris Yeltsin.[6]
	June 3–5, 2000		Moscow	Summit Meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Addressed the Duma.[6]
George W. Bush	May 23–26, 2002		Moscow, Saint Petersburg	Summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Signed Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.[7]
	November 22, 2002		St. Petersburg	Met with President Vladimir Putin.[7]
	May 31 – June 1, 2003		St. Petersburg	Met with President Vladimir Putin. Attended ceremonies commemorating the city's 300th anniversary.[7]
	May 8–9, 2005		Moscow	Met with President Vladimir Putin. Attended the 60th anniversary of VE Day ceremonies.[7]
	July 14–17, 2006		St. Petersburg	Attended the 32nd G8 summit. Met with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[7]
	November 15, 2006		Moscow	Met with President Vladimir Putin.[7]
	April 5–6, 2008		Sochi	Met with President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev.[7]
Barack Obama	July 6–9, 2009		Moscow	Met with President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Delivered a commencement speech to the New Economic School.[8]
	September 4–6, 2013		Saint Petersburg	Attended the G-20 Summit Meeting.

See also

• Russia–United States relations
• Soviet Union–United States relations
• Foreign policy of the United States
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Détente

References

1. "Travels of President Franklin D. Roosevelt". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
2. "Travels of President Richard M. Nixon". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
3. "Travels of President Gerald R. Ford". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
4. "Travels of President Ronald Reagan". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
5. "Travels of President George H. W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
6. "Travels of President Bill Clinton". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
7. "Travels of President George W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-04.
8. "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.