February 1, 1992

Camp David Declaration (1992)

Bush and Yeltsin adopt the Camp David Declaration

Near the end of the private meeting Yeltsin asked Bush whether they were still adversaries. Bush said no — but declined Yeltsin's preferred word, "allies."

1 February 1992 at Camp David

George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin met at Camp David, Maryland, on 1 February 1992 — the first meeting there between a U.S. president and the democratically elected president of an independent Russia. Yeltsin had arrived from the first summit-level meeting of the UN Security Council in New York.

They adopted the Camp David Declaration, which stated that Russia and the United States no longer regarded one another as potential adversaries and that their relationship would be characterised by friendship and partnership.

Six principles, and no treaty

The declaration set out six guiding principles. It committed both countries to remove remnants of Cold War hostility, pursue strategic-arms reductions and cooperate on nonproliferation, regional conflicts, terrorism, drug trafficking, trade and environmental problems.

It was a political statement of principles rather than an arms-control agreement. Yeltsin proposed eliminating multiple-warhead ballistic missiles and even a joint missile-defence system; the United States was not ready to accept all of those proposals.

Discussed, not agreed

The presidents also went over Russian economic reform, Western assistance and detailed nuclear proposals, including a level of roughly 2,500 strategic warheads for each side. Bush emphasised that they had reached no agreement on particular weapon categories or numbers, and assigned Secretary of State James Baker to pursue the detail in Moscow.

"Formally declared the Cold War over" is a later shorthand. Bush called the meeting a confirmation of the Cold War's end, but the signed declaration carried no such formula — only that the two countries were no longer potential adversaries.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 4 sources 2 audit passes

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What the sources leave uncertain

The date and meeting are secure. The phrase 'formally declared the Cold War over' is a later shorthand: the signed declaration did not contain that exact formula.
Bush called the meeting a confirmation of the Cold War's end; the declaration more precisely said the countries were no longer potential adversaries and would remove remaining Cold War hostility. The historical endpoint of the Cold War is interpretive, not fixed by this document alone.