Word: yeltsin
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...Year's addresses, dull ceremonial affairs for most heads of state, have a 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...
Unity's creators--a small group of people in and around the "Family," as Yeltsin's aides and hangers-on are known--wanted a reassuringly predictable election. "Were you surprised by the results?" a reporter from the daily Kommersant asked Tatyana Dyachenko, Yeltsin's daughter and aide and one of the most powerful figures behind the throne. "Come on," she replied. "What surprises? Everything was precisely calculated." The day after the elections, when other parties were crying foul or doing deals, a Unity official said there would be no party press conference. "We don't see the need," he explained...
...moment they seem very remote, but in Russia things change fast. There is the specter of Chechnya, where a single disaster--if it can break through the military's news blockade --could turn public opinion against both the war and the Prime Minister. The other is the truculence of Yeltsin, who tends to fire overly successful Prime Ministers. Putin's aides say this will not happen. But should Yeltsin decide to dump Putin, the Kremlin's electoral technicians may return to last week's results and put a new spin on them: with enough money and media...
Russians give presents at New Year rather than at Christmas, but none could match Boris Yeltsin?s gift to his chosen successor. Russia?s president shocked the nation by resigning Friday, handing the reins of power over to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and bringing next summer?s scheduled presidential election forward to March. "Yeltsin?s decision is plainly driven by the need to ensure Putin?s victory," says TIME Moscow correspondent Andrew Meier. "Bringing the election forward gives him a huge advantage by allowing him to ride the wave of support he built up in the Chechyna campaign to carry...
Although very little is known as to what the former KGB chief stands for, one of his policy positions is fairly certain: guarantees of immunity from prosecution for Boris Yeltsin and his family. "Many of Yeltsin?s former aides believed he was psychologically incapable of letting go of the presidency," says Meier. "He and his family have long feared a Caucescu scenario, and there?s no doubt that he wouldn?t have quit unless he?d gotten all the immunity guarantees he needed." Yeltsin also asked Russia?s people for a New Year?s gift in return. "I want...