On June 12, 1991, the first anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, the first presidential elections in Russia were held. Boris Yeltsin won in the first round, despite the active opposition of the Soviet authorities.
How did we screw it up then?
Unlike the 1996 elections, when the best American political strategists were hired and administrative resources were connected (bought for American money - it may sound surprising today, but then the local authorities did something even for the feds, solely for money) to win the so beloved To the West of Yeltsin, in 1991 WE could still make OWN other choice …..
Yeltsin was then perceived as “their own guy on the board,” who would both drink and pinch someone prettier. And the main mistake of the leadership of the USSR was the absence of other candidates with the same image who could compete with Boris Nikolaevich. At the same time, they did everything according to the established party practice: a suit, a parting, a serious uncle says boring things - and the people, drugged by Gorbachevism, already wanted a holiday in everything, it seemed that they just needed a normal man and now he would figure it out. Chose "like everyone else" and away we go.
Yeltsin conducts the orchestra at a meeting in Germany.
Head of security A. Korzhakov: During lunch he drank a lot of dry red wine - the German waiter did not have time to add. Yeltsin frolicked: he giggled in a juicy baritone, gestured uninhibitedly and carried outright nonsense. When they arrived at the mayor's office, Yeltsin got out of the Mercedes and went up to the Berlin police orchestra. And suddenly he grabbed the baton from the stunned conductor and settled at the console. He began to wave his arms. Spectators, correspondents and musicians also enjoyed a lot. They have never seen anything like it anywhere, and it is unlikely they will ever see it again. And the president accepted the hooting and screaming for the enthusiastic recognition of his talent as a conductor.
Yeltsin's first official visit to Kazakhstan on the eve of the putsch was magnificently organized. After the usual "load" at lunch, Yeltsin decided to play on spoons. First, he hit his leg, as it should be, and then with a bang he began to beat his subordinate on the head. The spectators were ready to burst with laughter choking them. Yeltsin remembered the "creative" find: then, in a drunken stupor, he always knocked spoons on neighboring heads. Once he even hit the president's head with a metal spoon Akaev …
To the bottom … and the country, too, BOTTOM.
Promotional video:
In 2007, Mark Simpson wrote in The Guardian: “The ever-drunken rascal who drove most of his people to unimaginable poverty while at the same time fantastically enriching his clique. The man who started his populist career campaigning against the relatively modest corruption of party officials later became the head of the country in an era of widespread corruption and banditry unparalleled in history. He not only grovelled in front of Western interests, but also directed the almost final destruction of his country as a political and military force in the world arena. He trampled Russia into the mud so that we don't have to do it ourselves."
Bill…..mate….
Major General of Aviation, retired and former vice-president of Russia Alexander Rutskoy spoke about the events of August 1991, (on August 19, 1991, a group of party and officials of the Soviet Union tried to introduce a state of emergency in the country in order to stop the processes of state disintegration - the so-called GKChP) declaring that he regrets supporting Boris Yeltsin, who, according to him, tried to escape to the American embassy. Former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation Ruslan Khasbulatov confirmed that Boris Yeltsin did indeed try to escape to the American embassy during the 1991 coup.
Ordinary citizens really believed in freedom and new democratic leaders and were going to defend their ideals at the cost of their lives, as a result, the GKChP plans collapsed, the USSR collapsed with them (with the active help of Yeltsin: "… take as much sovereignty as you want"), and in 1993 As a result of the conflict between Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, they "abolished" each other and confrontation began.
In October 1993, fighting began in Moscow. The Supreme Soviet was shot from tanks. But the consequences of the confrontation could be much worse: the power structures were controlled by the executive branch, but the Armed Forces were actively looking for military units loyal to it in order to throw them against the president. The country was literally moments away from the NEW Civil War. GOD had mercy - nothing happened!
What he is doing, what he is doing …..!
The country was sinking deeper and deeper into chaos and banditry, all agriculture and almost all industry were destroyed, sold and asked … but everything that is possible and even that is impossible. The West enjoyed its triumph and grabbed, grabbed, taking advantage of the favorable moment (as has often happened in our history), which, as it seemed to them, would never end now. And suddenly, out of nowhere …..
Do you recognize?
I think it would not be an exaggeration to say that even liberals admit: step by step, little by little, Putin pulled the country out of the place where Yeltsin and Gorbachev had thrust it. Though……
And again I repeat that everyone draws conclusions for himself. 27 years ago, the citizens of Russia, who were then still citizens of the USSR, first elected their own president. Perhaps, if we returned to that day, many would have changed their preferences, but history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood - this is already an Alternative History.
