The Unfinished Time: Russia in the 90s
From the collapse of the Soviet Union to Putin’s rule: how Russia became free and what it did with this freedom. The story of Boris Yeltsin and his times, told by his comrades, family, friends, and foes.
Episodes
The new General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Mikhail Gorbachev, is trying to reform the Soviet regime - and starts a chain reaction of events that he quickly loses control over. The democratic opposition is led by Boris Yeltsin, and soon Gorbachev begins to see him as a threat.
In order to reverse democratic reforms, the Soviet security forces, led by the chairman of the KGB, staged a coup d'état - they isolated the legitimate president of the USSR Gorbachev in the Crimea and brought tanks into Moscow. But the citizens of Russia, rallied around their president, are putting up unexpected resistance.
The defeat of the GKChP plays the role of a trigger: the republics secede from the USSR one after another, and the Union, which until recently seemed indestructible, is falling apart before our eyes. In a matter of months, it is necessary to decide how the new Russia will live.
To avoid economic catastrophe and famine, immediate reforms are needed. Boris Yeltsin creates a government of young reformers headed by Yegor Gaidar. These measures would later be called "shock therapy": free prices, trade liberalization, privatization.
In the autumn of 1993, dual power was formed in Russia. The conflict between the president and the parliament is growing, which leads to a full-scale political crisis and armed clashes on the streets of Moscow. The parliament tries to seize power from the president, and the president dissolves the parliament.
At the end of 1994, the Chechen war began in Russia: federal troops entered the republic that had proclaimed independence. The authorities are counting on a quick victory, but instead they get a protracted bloody conflict. Even his loyal allies are turning away from Yeltsin.
Unresolved problems in the economy, the ongoing war in Chechnya, deteriorating health - all this brings down the presidential rating of Boris Yeltsin. But after the defeat of the pro-government party in the Duma elections, the president believes that he is the only one who can stop the leader of the Communists, Gennady Zyuganov. Yeltsin decided to run in the presidential elections of 1996.
Having survived heart surgery, the president is launching a new wave of economic reforms. By the end of 1997, the Russian economy was growing for the first time in the 1990s. However, the conflict between the young government and part of big business leads to a series of high-profile resignations. The country is covered by an economic crisis.
Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov is rapidly gaining popularity, having successfully coped with the consequences of the crisis. He decides to run for president in 2000 and forms an informal alliance with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the Communists. Yeltsin dismissed Primakov.
The presidential elections of 2000 are approaching. Yevgeny Primakov and Yuri Luzhkov created the Fatherland-All Russia association, which dominates the political system of Russia. The Russian elite believes that the Kremlin has already lost the upcoming elections. However, the new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, is rapidly gaining popularity. People like his energy and determination. On December 31, 1999, President Yeltsin made an unexpected decision and resigned early.
