Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.
He oversaw the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Russia's chaotic transition to a market economy.
His presidency was marked by economic turmoil, the war in Chechnya, and erratic behavior that fueled speculation about his health and drinking.
He resigned on New Year's Eve 1999, handing power to Vladimir Putin.
Moscow's fortified government seat
- inaugurationFormal beginning ceremony
- administrationOrganizational oversight and control
- termFixed period or word
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
executive · head of state · decree · constitution · election · governance · successor · appointment
Soviet reform initiative
- glasnostSoviet transparency reform
- shock therapyElectric psychiatric treatment
- privatizationState sells public assets
- liberalizationReducing state economic controls
democratization · market economy · oligarchs · economic transition · free market · deregulation · stabilization · foreign investment
Russia's capital city
- FederationNamed union of states
- PutinRussian authoritarian leader
- SovietOf the USSR
- communist partyMarxist-Leninist political organization
Gorbachev · White House · Red Square · Duma · apparatchik · Boris
Failed government overthrow effort
- resignationVoluntary relinquishment of position
- declineDecrease or refuse
- constitutional crisisFundamental governmental legal conflict
- fallDescend under gravity
turmoil · instability · disintegration · upheaval · breakdown · defeat · overthrow · power struggle
Compellingly attractive to others
- populistAdvocate for ordinary citizens
- defiantOpenly resisting control
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
- courageFortitude facing danger
boldness · heart surgery · drinking · resignation speech · controversial · reformer · figurehead · patriarch
Kremlin
Moscow's fortified government seat
- inaugurationFormal beginning ceremony
- administrationOrganizational oversight and control
- termFixed period or word
mandate · executive · head of state · decree · constitution · election · governance · successor · appointment · cabinet
perestroika
Soviet reform initiative
- glasnostSoviet transparency reform
- shock therapyElectric psychiatric treatment
- privatizationState sells public assets
liberalization · democratization · market economy · oligarchs · economic transition · free market · deregulation · stabilization · foreign investment · capitalism
Moscow
Russia's capital city
- FederationNamed union of states
- PutinRussian authoritarian leader
- SovietOf the USSR
Gorbachev · communist party · White House · Red Square · Duma · apparatchik · Boris
coup attempt
Failed government overthrow effort
- resignationVoluntary relinquishment of position
- declineDecrease or refuse
- constitutional crisisFundamental governmental legal conflict
fall · turmoil · instability · disintegration · upheaval · breakdown · defeat · overthrow · power struggle · chaos
charismatic
Compellingly attractive to others
- populistAdvocate for ordinary citizens
- defiantOpenly resisting control
- unpredictableCannot be anticipated
courage · boldness · heart surgery · drinking · resignation speech · controversial · reformer · figurehead · patriarch
- Russian HistorySoviet Union, tsars, Tsarist Russia, Romanov, czars
- Cold War EndBerlin Wall fall, Soviet collapse, German reunification, Gorbachev, perestroika
- Eastern European FiguresDostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pushkin, Copernicus
- Political LeadersJoseph Stalin, Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, Lenin, Mao Zedong
- Post-Soviet FiguresPutin, Gorbachev, Lukashenko, Medvedev, Zelensky
- Slavic HistoryRussian Revolution, Soviet Union, USSR, Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Revolution
YeltsinStalin
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
Lenin · Brezhnev · Mao Zedong · Fidel Castro · Marxist-Leninist
YeltsinPutin
Russian authoritarian leader
Stalin · Xi Jinping · autocrat · strongman · authoritarian
YeltsinPutin
Russian authoritarian leader
Angela Merkel · calculated restraint · sobriety · predictability · political stability