Word: chechenization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...habit of taking a dramatic turn in Russia. On Christmas Day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev announced the end of his presidency and, simultaneously, the end of the Soviet Union. Three years later, Boris Yeltsin raised his glass to the Russian army, which was at that moment storming the Chechen capital of Grozny. As the President's New Year's greetings were being broadcast, a 1,000-man unit of the Russian army was annihilated in the streets of Grozny. This year, with Russian troops again trying to fight their way into the Chechen capital, Yeltsin dropped a bombshell...
Soon after assuming his new office, Putin flew unexpectedly to the Chechen town of Gudermes, where he awarded hunting knives to troops who had distinguished themselves in the fighting. Meanwhile, as word of the resignation spread across Moscow, the Russian stock market jumped about 20%; politicians paid their predictable tributes, and ordinary citizens responded largely with indifference. Gorbachev, who is spending the New Year's holiday in Paris with his children and grandchildren, told the French press agency that Yeltsin should have resigned earlier. Human-rights activist Elena Bonner--Yeltsin nominated her husband Andrei Sakharov as TIME's Person...
...West managed for most of his rule to overlook the dark side of Yeltsin's personality and presidency. The 100,000 or so deaths during the first Chechen war were regrettable, Western officials said. His character was sometimes a problem, but things were never boring with Boris, they added indulgently. He insulted the West but never broke with it. He was firmly and uncompromisingly anticommunist...