Boris Yeltsin, whose years of rule fell on perhaps the most difficult period in modern Russian history, today receives the most ambiguous assessments from politicians, journalists and society itself. In this article, we will recall the main pages of the "dashing nineties" in the history of our country.
President Boris Yeltsin: years of government
The logical consequence of Gorbachev's course, which manifested itself in the decentralization of power both in the public sphere and in the administrative sphere in the capitals of the national republics, was the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Belavezha Agreement, which finally and documented the peaceful divorce of the republics by all-round consent and the creation of an informal friendly organization - the CIS, was already signed by the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, whose years of rule followed this act.
The first half of the 1990s was marked by an unprecedented increase in crime, crazy inflation, the rapid impoverishment of the people, the emergence of a new category of the population - the so-called new Russians, andalong with them and the catastrophically numerous growth of impoverished citizens. This was approximately the result of the first years of the new president's rule.
The logical consequence of the deplorable processes was the growth of opposition sentiment in society and the support of alternative political forces. Their stronghold in 1993 was the Supreme Council, where both communists and nationalists concentrated. The confrontation between the opposition and the head of state was further complicated by the fact that Russian President Boris Yeltsin, during the shock therapy of 1992, received extremely broad powers that allowed him to quite legitimately dissolve parliament. In the opinion of the parliament, the term of these powers should have already expired, since they were handed over only for the period of necessary decisive actions in the first two years of independence. This confrontation ended with a well-known fact: the shooting of the parliament building and the complete victory of the president.
Until now, this event receives a variety of assessments: for some it is a coup d'état, for someone a decisive resolution of the situation (without which the country would have plunged into years of chaos and bloody chaos of political confrontations), which was implemented by Boris Yeltsin. The years of the reign of this man, among other things, were marked by the Chechen war, which still causes violent 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, growthcrime, 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, claiming 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 that not least allowed Boris Nikolayevich to win his next election in 1996.
Boris Yeltsin: second term years of government
Unfortunately, the Khasavyurt agreements did not bring appeasement to either Chechnya or 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 the economic policy and decrees during the Yeltsin years were to blame. The fact is that the state's economy was directly dependent on oil exports, and the fall in oil prices was the main reason for the collapse of the domestic economy.
Be that as it may, with the departure of the first president of Russia, an entire era with its catastrophes has passed, but also with the foundation laid for further, albeit not so significant, positive changes.
