Boris yeltsin a political biography samples

  • Why did boris yeltsin resign

    • Biography, Russian-Style : BORIS YELTSIN: A Political Biography <i> By Vladimir Solovoyov and Elena Klepikova</i> , <i> Translated by David Gurevich</i> , <i> (G. P. Putnam’s Sons: $24.95; 302 pp.) </i>

    Just six months before the Moscow coup, when Boris Yeltsin called upon Mikhail Gorbachev to resign, the man who was to inherit the Kremlin was asked what he would do if Gorbachev and his wife suddenly turned up on his doorstep.

    “First, I’ll ask them in. Well, the women would go into the kitchen, they have their own stuff to talk about,” Yeltsin began. “As for us, I’d tell him, ‘For three years, I’ve been asking, begging you to let the forces on the left prop you up. Then we would have not let the right-wingers develop into such a menace, and they are the ones now muscling you out. . . . I am not claiming your job, nor am I offering myself as an alternative. But I’ll stand firm on this: Let Russia breathe freely, give us autonomy.’ ”

    That brief burst of entirely characteristic Yeltsin chatter carries three illuminating subtexts: He was thinking in terms of breaking up the Soviet empire long before the collapse of the Moscow coup made it practicable. He perceived Gorbachev as an essentially tactical factor, the symbolic prize for which the left and right in an emergent two-party system were vying. And Yeltsin’s view of women and their role is old-fashioned, and very Russian.

    Now that we all inhabit the global village, read one another’s opinion polls and can eat the same fast-food, we are coming to assume that the Russians are just like us, only poorer. This is a worrying delusion, which this entertaining, perceptive and deeply subjective study of Boris Yeltsin will help to dispel. Any reader brought up on the classic forms of Western biography will find this an infuriating and bafflingly alien book. It is as Russian as borscht and vodka.

    The chronology darts dizzily back and forth through the last 60 years. Extremely long qu

    Boris Yeltsin

    President of Russia from 1991 to 1999

    "Yeltsin" redirects here. For the name, see Yeltsin (name).

    Boris Yeltsin

    Portrait, c. 1991–1993

    In office
    25 December 1991 – 31 December 1999
    Prime Minister
    Vice PresidentAlexander Rutskoy(1991–1993)
    Preceded by
    • Office established; Himself (as President of the Russian SFSR)
    • Alexander Rutskoy (acting, disputed)
    Succeeded by
    In office
    10 July 1991 – 25 December 1991
    PresidentMikhail Gorbachev
    Prime Minister
    Preceded by

    Himself (as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR)

    Succeeded by

    Himself (as President of Russia)

    In office
    29 May 1990 – 10 July 1991
    Preceded by

    Vitaly Vorotnikov (as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR)

    Succeeded byRuslan Khasbulatov
    In office
    23 December 1985 – 11 November 1987
    Preceded byViktor Grishin
    Succeeded byLev Zaykov
    Born(1931-02-01)1 February 1931
    Butka, Ural Oblast, Soviet Union
    Died23 April 2007(2007-04-23) (aged 76)
    Moscow, Russia
    Resting placeNovodevichy Cemetery
    Political party
    Spouse
    Children2, including Tatyana Yumasheva
    Alma materUral State Technical University
    Signature

    Central institution membership

    • 1986–1988: Candidate member, 26th, 27th Politburo
    • 1985–1986: Member, 26th Secretariat
    • 1981–1990: Full member, 26th, 27th Central Committee

    Other offices held

    • 1992: Minister, Defence
    • 1976–1985: First Secretary, Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

    Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as a political independent, during which tim

    Kirkus Review

    An intriguing and potentially controversial biography of the new President of Russia, by husband-and-wife Russian émigrés Solovyov and Klepikova (Behind the High Kremlin Walls, 1986; Yuri Andropov, 1983). Skipping lightly over Yeltsin's early years, the authors concentrate on his conflict with Gorbachev and the Communist Party. While strongly supportive of Yeltsin (``a man of truly heroic stature'') and critical of Gorbachev (``a 60-year-old man made of Silly Putty''), their approach is sober and informed. Yeltsin and Gorbachev were born a month apart, the authors tell us, both the issue of generations of peasants and both hailing from villages remote from Moscow. But while Gorbachev grew to enjoy luxury and to cling to the Communist Party almost to the end, Yeltsin proved himself sternly incorruptible (during his tenure as Moscow Party boss, he traveled to work on the crowded subway) and made his mark as the first dissident from within the Kremlin, the first to leave a high Party position voluntarily, and the first to lead a popular revolt against the Party. Solovyov and Klepikova describe Yeltsin as sociable, noisy, effusive, a bit of a showoff, provincial and proud of it, but with ``extraordinary political instincts.'' The most controversial aspect of the authors' reportage, though, lies in their coverage of the August coup and the evidence they present that Gorbachev may even have been responsible for it (they cite key KGB sources, for example, who claim that Gorbachev's communications at his dacha were not, in fact, cut off). The authors conclude that they ``dare not close this book on an optimistic note,'' but they leave a sense that if anyone can triumph over chaos in Russia, it may be Yeltsin. Often disjointed and disorganized, as if hastily prepared, but providing remarkable insight into the conflicts in the Soviet Union and the quality of the man who has been called upon to deal with them.


    Booklist Review

    The authors introduce us to

  • Boris yeltsin putin


    • Foreign Policy

    Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Sunset

    by Alexander Korzhakov

    Reviewed by Lilia Shevtsova

    No man is a hero to his valet" is an old adage that President Boris Yeltsin should have taken to heart--especially given his choice of Alexander Korzhakov as his chief bodyguard and confidante. One year after his fall from grace at the Kremlin, Korzhakov has published a tell-all memoir that has captivated readers with its intimate portrait of the man who holds Russia's highest political office. Reading Korzhakov's book is like peeping through a keyhole--it is detestable, but one cannot help but find it compelling.

    This is a story of betrayal and attempted revenge. Yeltsin and his bodyguard once cut their hands and mixed their blood, vowing to be friends "until death." Now Korzhakov lays before us damaging details about Yeltsin and his family, such as how Yeltsin's daughter Tatyana, responsible for drafting the president's schedule, lobbied on behalf of shady businessmen. Taking readers behind the scenes, Korzhakov also offers new interpretations of controversial events: for example, how Yeltsin cut short his visit to Beijing in 1992 not because of political intrigue back in Moscow--as was widely reported--but because he fell terribly ill and became partially paralyzed. Yeltsin was so frightened that, according to Korzhakov, he began weeping. Trying to console him, Korzhakov said, "Remember Roosevelt? He was in a wheelchair but ruled the country."

    As an epigraph to his book, Korzhakov chose the maxim of the nineteenth-century French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand: "Nations would have been horrified if they knew what petty people rule them." What is really interesting about the former bodyguard's memoir, however, is not what it tells us about Yeltsin's weaknesses or numerous under-the-table sweetheart deals--we can guess about many of them. Rather, Korzhakov provides a window onto Russian politics, revealing the style of governance an