Boris Yeltsin, whose years of rule fell on perhaps the most difficult period in modern Russian history, receives today the most mixed opinions from politicians, journalists and society itself. In this article, we recall the main pages of the "dashing nineties" in the history of our country.
President Boris Yeltsin: years of rule
The logical consequence of the Gorbachev policy, manifested in the decentralization of power both in the public sphere and in the administration in the capitals of national republics, was the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Bialowieza Agreement, which finally and documented the peaceful divorce of the republics by full agreement and the creation of an informal friendly organization - the CIS, was signed by the Russian Federation on behalf of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, whose reign years followed this act.
The first half of the 1990s was marked by an unprecedented increase in crime, crazy inflation, rapid impoverishment of the people, the emergence of a new category of the population - the so-called new Russians, and with them the catastrophically numerous growth of impoverished citizens. About this was the result of the first years of the reign of the new president.
The logical consequence of the deplorable processes was the growth of opposition in society and the support of alternative political forces. In 1993, the Supreme Council became their stronghold, where both communists and nationalists concentrated. The opposition between the opposition and the head of state was further complicated by the fact that Russian President Boris Yeltsin received extremely broad powers during the shock therapy of 1992, which allowed him to completely dismiss the parliament. In the parliament’s opinion, the term of these powers should have expired, since they were handed over only for the period of necessary decisive actions in the first two years of independence. This confrontation ended in a well-known fact: the shooting of the parliament building and the complete victory of the president.
Until now, this event has received a wide variety of assessments: for some it is an accomplished coup, for someone a decisive resolution of the situation (without which the country would plunge into a long-term mess and bloody chaos of political confrontation), which was realized by Boris Yeltsin. The reign of this man, among other things, is marked by the Chechen war, which still causes stormy emotions in the hearts of our compatriots.
The first half of the 1990s turned out to be even more difficult for this republic than for the rest of the country: the complete absence of federal control led to a decisive impoverishment of the population, increased crime, real ethnic cleansing and the formation of radical anti-government forces here. The underestimation of these forces led to the fact that instead of a quick solution to the Chechen problem, the conflict dragged on for many months, killing the lives of many conscripts and causing a comprehensive condemnation of the actions of the federal authorities. But it was the signing of the truce in the form of the Khasavyurt agreements and the return of the soldiers home not least that enabled Boris Nikolayevich to win his next election in 1996.
Boris Yeltsin: years in the second term
Unfortunately, the Khasavyurt agreements did not bring peace either to Chechnya or to the rest of Russia. They only postponed the problem, which the next president had to solve. Perhaps the most significant episode of the second term of the first president was the financial default in the country. It is difficult to unequivocally judge whether this was the fault of economic policy and decrees during the reign of Yeltsin. The fact is that the state’s economy was directly dependent on oil exports, and the fall in oil prices was the main cause of the collapse of the domestic economy.
Be that as it may, with the departure of the first president of Russia, a whole era has gone with its catastrophes, but also with the foundation laid for further, albeit not so significant, positive shifts.
