History UsefulNotes / BorisYeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Бори́с Никола́евич Е́льцин, 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was the first President of what we call UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia. And [[VodkaDrunkenski one hell of a drunk man]], but we'll get to that part later.

[[quoteright:234:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boris_yeltsin-2_8177.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:234:The man in one of his sober moments (we think).]]

* His caricature in the French puppet show ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'' was always drunk, because of course.

* The assassination of Yeltsin during the August Coup sets the whole plot of ''WebOriginal/ZhirinovskysRussianEmpire'' in motion.

The man himself vowed to transform Russia's socialist economy into a free market economy, implementing, in order to achieve that, price liberalization, various privatization programs and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_therapy_(economics) shock therapy]].

He reportedly became disillusioned with communism after [[https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php a 1989 visit to a supermarket in Houston, Texas]].

Problem is, this sudden privatization caused a good portion of the Russian wealth to fall into the hands of a small group of oligarchs. As a result of all this, [[FromBadToWorse widespread corruption, inflation, economic collapse, and several political and social problems ensued.]]

To understand the damage his policies inflicted on Russia, one only has to look at UsefulNotes/TheRussianCross, when death rates in Russia began to exceed birth rates. While this started only slightly before the Soviet Union collapsed, the rate of morality ''skyrocketed'' under Yeltsin's tenure as Russians endured economic collapse, the loss of basic social services, and rampant crime and alcoholism.

A year later, he [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars ordered the invasion of Chechnya]] in order to restore Moscow's control over that republic. This, in addition to his economical 'achievements' mentioned above, led to his rating falling to 5% by March 1996. In order to win the elections that year, a peace agreement was signed, leaving behind a devastated Chechnya still under separatist control. Yeltsin did manage to win, thanks to non-stop propaganda by government- (and Yeltsin-friendly oligarchs-) [[PropagandaMachine controlled media]] raising his rating from 5% to 60% in six months.

During his second term (which started with a quintuple heart bypass surgery), Russia received the equivalent to 40 billion US dollars from the IMF, which were later allegedly stolen by some people of Yeltsin's circle and placed in foreign banks. However, in 1998, his government defaulted, and the ruble collapsed. All these crises, along with lack of international support (and US opposition) regarding Chechnya, caused him to do a surprise resignation in the last day of the last month of 1999. A few months before, he had survived another attempt of impeachment, and fired his prime minister Sergei Stepashin, and appointed to the job [[UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin a man who would become very, very, very well-known]], who would succeed him.

He began his career in what is now the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was responsible for the demolition of the Ipatiev House, where [[UsefulNotes/NicholasII]] and the rest of the Romanovs were imprisoned and executed. [[note]]When he entered politics, he denounced the Romanov murders as a bloody atrocity.[[/note]]

He began his career in what is now the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was responsible for the demolition of the Ipatiev House, where the Romanovs were imprisoned and executed.

* In ''WebOriginal/TheDeathOfRussia'', Yeltsin meeting his end during the 1993 October Coup serves as the PointOfDivergence that helps set the stage for a Second Russian Civil War.

* While not mentioned by name, a man who is clearly meant to be Yeltsin appears as a minor character during the "David trilogy" of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', where a number of world leaders are to be meeting.

Besides all these things, he also became known for his notorious alcoholism, which he struggled with ever since his days as a party boss in [[PleaseSelectNewCityName Sverdlovsk/Yekaterinburg]], and which seemed to get [[FromBadToWorse worse and worse]] for all of his presidential career.[[note]](There were even [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_decoy#Boris_Yeltsin.2Funknown_.281996.E2.80.932000.29 some theories]] about how he actually [[VodkaDrunkenski drank himself to death]] in 1999 and the Yeltsin that lived until 2006 was a BodyDouble.)[[/note]] Among other incidents, at one point, while visiting Clinton in DC, Yeltsin turned up in his underwear on Pennsylvania Avenue, trying to hail cabs. He often appeared drunk in public. He also had strange behaviours, due to the fact that Kremlin doctors gave him "strong drugs" which were incompatible even with a little drop of alcohol. Ironically, after his resignation, he finally managed to become sober and solved his alcoholism problems.

During his second term (which started with a quintuple heart bypass surgery), Russia received the equivalent to 40 billion US dollars from the IMF, which were later allegedly stolen by some people of Yeltsin's circle and placed in foreign banks. However, in 1998, his government defaulted, the ruble collapsed. A year later, he survived another attempt of impeachment, and fired his prime minister Sergei Stepashin, and appointed to the job [[UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin a man who would become very, very, very popular.]]

All these crises, along with lack of international support (and US opposition) regarding Chechnya, caused him to do a surprise resignation in the last day of the last month of 1999. It's widely known who came next.

->''"Let's not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky.''

Yeltsin died of congestive heart failure on 23 April 2007, at the age of 76. He was the first head of state to be buried in a church ceremony, 113 years after Emperor Alexander III.

A year later, he [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars ordered the invasion of Chechnya]] in order to restore Moscow's control over that republic. This, in addition to his economical 'achievements' mentioned above, led to his rating falling to 5% by March 1996. In order to win the elections that year, a peace agreement was signed, leaving behind a devastated Chechnya still under separatist control. Yeltsin did manage to win, thanks to non-stop propaganda by government- (and Yeltsin-friendly [[CorruptCorporateExecutive oligarchs-]]) [[PropagandaMachine controlled media]] raising his rating from 5% to 60% in six months.

A year later, he [[UsefulNotes/TheChechnyaWars ordered the invasion of Chechnya]] in order to restore Moscow's control over that republic. This, in addition to his economical 'achievements' mentioned above, led to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating his rating falling to 5% by March 1996]]. In order to win the elections that year, a peace agreement was signed, leaving behind a devastated Chechnya still under separatist control. Yeltsin did manage to win, thanks to non-stop propaganda by government- (and Yeltsin-friendly [[CorruptCorporateExecutive oligarchs-]]) [[PropagandaMachine controlled media]] raising his rating from 5% to 60% in six months.

A year later, he ordered the invasion of Chechnya in order to restore Moscow's control over that republic. This, in addition to his economical 'achievements' mentioned above, led to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating his rating falling to 5% by March 1996]]. In order to win the elections that year, a peace agreement was signed, leaving behind a devastated Chechnya still under separatist control. Yeltsin did manage to win, thanks to non-stop propaganda by government- (and Yeltsin-friendly [[CorruptCorporateExecutive oligarchs-]]) [[PropagandaMachine controlled media]] raising his rating from 5% to 60% in six months.

Boris Yeltsin was the first President of what we call UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia. And [[VodkaDrunkenski one hell of a drunk man]], but we'll get to that part later.

Boris Yeltsin was the first President of what we call TheNewRussia. And [[VodkaDrunkenski one hell of a drunk man]], but we'll get to that part later.

A year later, he ordered the invasion of Chechnya in order to restore Moscow's control over that republic. This, in addition to his economical 'achievements' mentioned above, led to [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating his rating falling to 5% by March 1996]]. In order to win the elections that year, a peace agreement was signed, leaving behind a devastated Chechnya still under separatist control. Yeltsin did manage to win, thanks to non-stop propaganda by government- (and Yeltsin-friendly [[CorruptCorporateExecutive oligarchs-]]) controlled media raising his rating from 5% to 60% over six months, and an alliance with the third most popular presidental candidate (after Yeltsin and Communist Gennady Zyuganov) Alexandr Lebed, who gave his 15% of votes to Yeltsin.

In 1993, he dissolved the parliament in order to solve his confrontations with the Supreme Soviet, which then tried to remove him from office. The army sided with Yeltsin, and shelled the Russian White House, causing the death of 187 people. He then scrapped the constitution and introduced one from scratch, with stronger presidential power, which was approved by a referendum.[[note]]54,8% of all voters participated in referendum and 58% of them supported the new constitution. I.e. only a quarter of Russian people actually voted for the constitution.[[/note]] At the same time, he temporarily banned political opposition and deepened his economic experimentation (which, in hindsight, became almost an economic suicide).