Hinted that civil war might result from election of

1
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

• Yeltsin announces program of radical economic
  reform
• Aim was to convert Russian economy to a complete
  free market system
• Tried to do too much too fast
• Result was skyrocketing prices, credit crunch,
  and long depression
• GNP dropped by 50, huge sectors of the economy
  wiped out, unemployment went through the roof,
  and incomes dropped
• Savings of millions wiped out by inflation

2
YELTSIN IN TROUBLE

• Politicians began to distance themselves from
  Yeltsins economic policies
• Yeltsin announces that he was going to assume
  special powers to implement his economic
  reforms
• Opponents respond by trying to impeach him from
  office
• Vote fell 72 votes short of 2/3s majority needed

3
THE PEOPLE TAKE ACTION

• Yeltsin announces his plan to disband parliament
  and rule by decree until new constitution was
  improved by Russian voters
• Spontaneous uprising erupts in Moscow against
  Yeltsin
• Yeltsin uses armed force to crush it
• New elections held and candidates associated with
  Yeltsins economic reforms are defeated
  everywhere
• New constitution did pass
• Expanded powers of the president

4
CHECHNYA

• Yeltsin orders military invasion to restore
  control of Islamic region of Chechnya
• December 1994
• Trying to break free from Russian Republic
• Results in two years of horrible warfare
• Russia withdraws in 1996
• Chechnya allowed greater autonomy but not full
  independence

5
YELTSIN TRIES FOR SECOND TERM

• Yeltsin announces he would run for second term
• February 1996
• Popularity was near zero at the time
• Communist candidate was popular in small towns
  and rural areas, had a strong organization, and
  appealed to memories of old days of Soviet
  prestige
• Gennady Zyuganov

6
NEW CAMPAIGN TEAM

• Yeltsin rejects advice to make himself dictator
  and changes campaign team
• Tatayana Dyachenko
• Anatoly Chubais
• Raises money from new billionaires in exchange
  for promising them majority shares in state-owned
  assets
• Used money to buy favorable media coverage
• Painted Zyuganov as Stalinist
• Hinted that civil war might result from election
  of a Communist

7
SURPRISE ELECTION

• Campaigns energetically
• Dispels fears of poor health
• Promised to abandon his unpopular economic
  reforms, boost welfare spending, end war in
  Chechnya, and pay arrears in pensions to retired
  state employees
• Receives 53.8 of the vote in election
• July 3, 1996
• Zyuganov ends up with only 40.3

8
FROM BAD TO WORSE

• Yeltsin keeps none of his campaign promises
• Except ending war in Chechnya
• Popularity plummets
• Spends first six months of new term recovering
  from quadruple bypass operation
• Reveals he had lied about his health
• Charges of corruption were rampant
• Especially widespread was the rumor that his
  cronies had stolen 40 billion in US aid

9
YELTSIN RESIGNS

• Russia defaults on international debt in 1998
• Throws world financial markets into a panic
• Rampant crime and inflation continue unchecked
• Opponents try to impeach him again in May 1999
• They again fall short of necessary 2/3s majority
• Yeltsin suddenly resigns on December 31, 1999
• Replaced by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as
  acting president

10
VLADIMIR PUTIN

• Putin has law degree from Leningrad State
  University
• Member of CP until it was dissolved in 1991
• Recruited into KGB in 1975
• Worked primarily in East Germany
• Resigned KGB in August 1991
• Held various political jobs in St. Petersburg
  until 1997
• Called to Moscow by Yeltsin and appointed prime
  minister in August 1999

11
PUTIN IN OFFICE

• Officially elected president in March 2000
• Defeated ten other candidates
• Tried to fight government corruption
• Reduced it somewhat but it remains a problem
• Demonstrated troubling nostalgia for Soviet past
• Restored red military flag and Soviet national
  anthem
• Claimed that collapse of Soviet Union was a
  national tragedy on an enormous scale

12
PUTINS SECOND TERM

• Easily re-elected president in March 2004
• 71 of vote
• Cracked down on media freedoms in country
• Placed most Russia media under government control
• Criticized for imposing censorship
• Never had good relationship with press

13
OMINOUS SIGN?

• A number of Russian journalists who covered such
  things as the war in Chechnya, organized crime,
  corruption, and relationship between new
  billionaires and the government have been
  murdered
• Anna Politkovskaya, who was investigating
  corruption in the army, was shot to death in the
  lobby of her apartment building
• October 7, 2006
• Many think Putin was involved somehow

14
GOOD SIGN

• Russian economy has shown many signs of reviving
• GNP grew by 600 during Putins presidency
• Percentage of people below the poverty line
  dropped from 30 in 2000 to 14 in 2008
• Recovery based mostly on steep rise in oil and
  natural gas prices since 2000

15
POTENTIAL POLITICAL PROBLEM

• Constitution prohibited Putin from running for
  third term in 2008
• Selected Dmitry Mededev to succeed him
• Close friend and associate for years
• Easily elected president
• Putin took post of prime minister
• Created two power centers in Russia