Debate - Opinion in English, Russia and Baltic States

Search for article or name


Back to Toni Schönfelders homepage

Toni Schönfelder A lifetime of innovation

Web library-Bookmarks, My favorites

Debate - Opinion in English
Russia and Baltic States



Tillbaka till Tonis hemsida

Mina favoritlänkar, kolla in

Debattartiklar Ryssland

TaxFree handelns vara och icke vara

Tillägnad bussbranschen av Toni Schönfelder oberoende och fri debattör

Debatt artiklar av Harald Rosén (Det gäller flyg)

Artiklar som du bara måste läsa,Vakna upp i Sverige!

Toni Schönfelder
A lifetime of innovation



Verschiedenes in Deutsch

Toni Schönfelder
A lifetime of innovation

Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies  
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin  
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584481.stm  
 
Boris Yeltsin, who played a key role in the Soviet Unions demise and became Russias first president, has died aged 76, the Kremlin says.  
 
July 1990: Resigns from Communist Party  
June 1991: Elected president of Russian republic (in USSR)  
August 1991: Rallies citizens against anti-Gorbachev coup, bans Russian communist party  
December 1991: Takes over from Mikhail Gorbachev as head of state  
1992: Lifts price controls, launches privatisation  
October 1993: Russia on brink of civil war, Yeltsin orders tanks to fire at parliament  
December 1994: Sends tanks into Chechnya  
June 1996: Re-elected as Russian president, suffers heart attack during campaign  
1998: Financial crisis, rouble loses 75% of its value  
December 1999: Resigns, appoints Vladimir Putin successor  
Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died of heart failure in hospital at 1545 (1145 GMT).  
He came to power after being promoted by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man he then outmanoeuvred.  
He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow.  
In what became one of the defining moments of his career, Mr Yeltsin rallied the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachevs era of glasnost and perestroika.  
In another episode of high drama, two years later he ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993, when the building was occupied by hardline political opponents.  
But Mr Yeltsin, who became Russias first democratically-elected leader after Mr Gorbachev resigned in December 1991, saw his final years in office overshadowed by increasingly erratic behaviour and plummeting popularity as the economy suffered.  
Bouts of ill-health were accompanied by rumours of a drinking problem, exhibited most famously when Mr Yeltsin grabbed a conductors baton in Berlin and, apparently inebriated, tried to sing along with the orchestra.  
The BBCs diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall says despite his unpredictability, Boris Yeltsin remained a reliable Western ally, even when relations grew icy over Natos military action against Yugoslavia in 1999.  
He announced his retirement in the final hours of 1999, handing over to former secret service chief Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time.  
Mr Yeltsin may have disappointed Russians by bringing them neither peace nor prosperity, our correspondent says.  
But, she adds, he did help end 70 years of Soviet Communism, and that, in the long run, is what he will probably be remembered for.  
Mr Gorbachev paid a mixed tribute to his successor, saying Mr Yeltsin was responsible for "many great deeds for the good of the country and serious mistakes", Russias Interfax news agency reported.  
Mr Putin has telephoned Mr Yeltsins widow, Naina, to express his condolences.  
The US White House praised Mr Yeltsin as an "historic figure during a time of great change and challenge for Russia".  
A funeral for the former Russian president will take place at Moscows Novodevichy cemetery on Wednesday 25 April.  
President Putin has also declared that a day of national mourning.  
"We will do everything we can to ensure that the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, his noble thoughts and his words take care of Russia serve as a moral and political benchmark for us," he said in a televised address.  
Chechen debacle  
Mr Yeltsins eight years in power brought immense changes to Russia.  
He banned the Communist Party, introduced a new constitution, which concentrated all real power in the hands of the president, and presided over Russias troubled mass privatisation in the early 1990s.  
The BBCs Russian affairs analyst, Steven Eke, says under the Yeltsin leadership, Russians were given greater political and civic freedoms than they had ever enjoyed.  
The media, especially television, were able to criticise the authorities, even the president, in a way they would no longer consider possible, he says.  
But history may judge Mr Yeltsins actions towards the rebellious region of Chechnya much more harshly, he adds.  
In 1994, Mr Yeltsin launched a disastrous large-scale military intervention in the breakaway republic, pledging to crush resistance in days.  
Instead, a bloody war of attrition ensued, which left tens of thousands of people dead, and the north Caucasus permanently destabilised  
Speaking in an interview with Russian television in 2000, Mr Yeltsin said that he saw the lives lost in Chechnya as the biggest responsibility he had to bear.  
But he added that there had been no alternative and that Russia had to act against Chechen separatists.  
"I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers," he said. "I made the decision, therefore I am responsible."  
 
 
 
 

Advertising about Spain
All kind of information about Spain in my own web page http://www.spaininformation.org

Fair use notice

The Toni Schönfelder Newsletter and website contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorised by the copyright owner. The material is being made available for purposes of education and discussion in order to better understand the complex nature of corruption in today's world. I believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in relevant national laws.

The material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Toni Schönfelder cannot guarantee that the information contained in the Corruption News service is complete and correct or be liable for any loss incurred as a result of its use. Nor can Toni Schönfelder be responsible for any subsequent use of the material.


Denna sida är producerad av Toni Schönfelder. Avsändaren har inget ansvar för innehållet i sidor som är länkade -- allt material som finns i egen producerade sidorna får användas fritt och utan kostnad.

Esta página ha sido realizada por el Sr. D. Toni Schönfelder.Los realizadores de la página no se hacen responsables del contenido de las páginas enlazadas a la presente. Toda la información existente en las páginas de realización propia pueden ser utilizadas libremente y sin ningún tipo de coste.

This page has been produced by Mr Toni Schönfelder. The sender does not take any responsibility for the contents of the linked pages. The whole material in the own produced page can be used free of charge.