POLITICS-RUSSIA: Yeltsin Quits To Steer Chosen Successor Into The Kremlin

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Sergei Blagov

Dec 31 1999 (IPS) - Russian President Boris Yeltsin pulled his last and biggest surprise out of his hat, announcing his resignation Friday, just 12 hours before the New Year.

. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whom Yeltsin named to act as President until elections are held by March 31, 2000 not only took over the ultimate symbol of power – the so called “nuclear briefcase,” with codes controlling the country’s nuclear missiles, but is widely believed to be well placed to win those elections. Another immediate beneficiary of the resignation was the stock market as Russian shares surged by 25-30 percent with deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko and finance minister Mikhail Kasyanov predicting Friday that Yeltsin’s early retirement would give Russian economy further boost. Questions over Yeltsin’s fitness to govern have persisted ever since a series of heart attacks, and a quintuple heart bypass operation in 1996. Russians and the rest of the world have long been watching television pictures of a Yeltsin who looked ill and unsteady – in a grim reminder of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s senility. His standing has also been marred by allegations of graft and corruption. The opposition Communist Party and even some former supporters have long argued that Yeltsin should step down early for health reasons and call a presidential election before the year 2000. They even suggested a sort of a deal for Yeltsin and his family to receive immunity from prosecution by the Communist-controlled Duma following his departure from the presidency. But Yeltsin refrained from any deal-making with his foes and resigned only after friendly political forces made significant gains in the Russian parliamentary election December 19 which were hailed by Yeltsin’s loyalists as a “peaceful revolution.”. These movements were heavily supported by Prime Minister Putin, who has emerged as Russia’s most popular politician on top of the military campaign in Chechnya. Roughly half of the Russians support the operation in Chechnya, while 25 percent of those polled say the onslaught is not tough enough, according to recent opinion polls. Some analysts even view the war in Chechnya as a part of Kremlin manipulation of the electoral process designed to ensure victory for Yeltsin’s protege, Putin, in the parliamentary and presidential elections. Boris Yeltsin was born in a peasant family on February 1, 1931 in Butka village, Sverdlovsk region in the Urals. His grandfather and father both fell victim of the reprisals by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin over the 1930s. As a child he became notorious because of unstable behavior. Once, he played with explosives from an ammunition dump and lost two fingers on his left hand as a result. Yeltsin graduated as an engineer in 1955, and worked in the construction sector for more than a decade. He commenced his career in the Communist party in 1968, moving up to the post of Sverdlovsk regional party boss in 1976. Mikhail Gorbachev’s accession to power in March 1985 gave Yeltsin’s career further boost as Gorbachev promoted him to head the Moscow party committee. In this capacity, Yeltsin surprised Muscovites by populist moves like using public transportation or visiting food stores. Yeltsin’s unorthodox practices put him on a collision course with the Communist party hard-liners. As a result he was booted out of the key post of Moscow party boss in December 1987, and given a minor post of deputy construction minister. In March 1989 he won a seat in the former Soviet parliament, and a year later Yeltsin was elected a deputy of the Russian parliament in which he became chairman May 29, 1990. Two weeks later – on June 12, 1990 – the parliament approved a Declaration on the Sovereignty of Russia, the first move toward the Soviet demise. On June 12, 1991 Yeltsin successfully ran to become Russia’s first elected president. August 19-21, 1991 Yeltsin headed the resistance against an attempted coup by hard-liners. Yeltsin also presided over painful market reforms or “shock therapy” and controversial privatization in 1992. His opponents in parliament tried to topple him in 1993 – the conflict ending in a bloody showdown in downtown Moscow in October, where Yeltsin scored yet another victory over his foes. On December 12 a referendum approved a new Russian Constitution, which gave the president almost unlimited powers. In 1996 Yeltsin carried out a vigorous campaign to win a second term in office He traveled non-stop, held dozens of meetings, danced the twist and engaged in other physical activities for the camera that probably worsened his long history of health problems. In September 1996 Yeltsin, breaking with Kremlin secretive tradition, said he would have heart surgery, and two month later he underwent successful quintuple heart bypass operation in Moscow. Since then Yeltsin has suffered a variety of health problems – from pneumonia to so called “respiratory infections”. With Russian economic troubles unfolding, Yeltsin was widely seen unable to deliver strong leadership needed to tackle the problems. Opinion polls suggested that Yeltsin had a miserable 2 percent approval rating, while more than 90 percent of the Russians disapproved his performance. His designated successor, Vladimir Putin, 47, studied law and worked in the KGB’s foreign intelligence service, mainly in Germany. Putin left the KGB in 1990 and served as deputy mayor of St Petersburg. In 1998, Putin was appointed head of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the KGB. Picked from obscurity in August 1999 by Yeltsin as Prime Minister and his chosen successor, former spy-master Putin now enjoys predominant – almost 50 percent – presidential approval rating. Russia’s upper chamber of parliament – the Federation Council – should announce the date for new presidential elections no later than January 14 – most likely for March 26, the country’s Central Election Commission head Alexander Veshnyakov said. Putin is the clear favorite, while other challengers such as Communist boss Gennady Zuyganov or former Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov look increasingly weak. However, Zuyganov argued that Yeltsin’s resignation came as a result of a “decade-long struggle by the Communists and patriots.” Another Yeltsin opponent and Primakov’s main ally, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, described the president’s move as a “right, but belated” decision. When Yeltsin read his farewell statement, he asked the Russians to forgive him for his failure to bring promised prosperity to Russia, potentially the richest country on earth. Thus it appears that the president’s resignation effectively signifies his acceptance of the failure of his economic reforms.