The August Vote That Changed Russia’s History
Rahvusvahelised uudised | 24 Aug 2017  | EWR OnlineEWR
  FB   Tweet   Trüki    Comment   E-post
Vladimir Kara-Murza
 - pics/2017/08/50233_001.jpg

World Affairs

If anyone had told members of Russia’s lower house of parliament on August 16, 1999 that the vote they were about to take would shape events in their country and much of the world for the next two decades, they would have been very surprised. A week earlier, President Yeltsin had dismissed Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and nominated Russia’s domestic security chief to take his place; the extraordinary session of the Duma was called in the midst of the August recess to consider the nomination. The candidate’s name was Vladimir Putin, and he was little-known even to many in the establishment, let alone the public at large. Yeltsin’s announcement that he would like to see the premier-designate succeed him in the Kremlin was met with ridicule.

That incredulous possibility was not even mentioned by most lawmakers as they spoke in the chamber that afternoon. The only exception was Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko group, who remarked that “we do not consider it appropriate that people who had worked in the Soviet security services can lead our country and run in presidential elections.” There was nothing like the drama of the German Reichstag session in the Kroll Opera House on March 23, 1933; the speeches were routine and uneventful. In fact, parliamentary leaders hardly even discussed the candidate or his program, preferring to spar over their own political differences. Russia was four months away from a parliamentary election; the pollswere predicting a strong showing by opposition parties; and the appointment of what was likely to be yet another caretaker prime minister—Russia’s sixth in seventeen months—did not seem like an important matter.

Perhaps some in the chamber should have paid attention to Putin’s pledge to “strengthen the executive vertical of power” or his stated preference for the abolition of direct elections for regional governors, but no one did. “I don’t think we should torment ourselves with this decision,” Oleg Morozov, leader of the centrist Regions of Russia group, counseled his colleagues. “We should vote, forget about it, and get on with business. We all have things to do.” The vote was done with at 5:22pm, when Speaker Gennady Seleznev announced the results: 233 of the 450 members of the Duma voted to confirm Putin as prime minister; 84 voted against.

Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Nineteen days later, an explosion in the southern town of Buinaksk would set off the chain of mysterious apartment bombings that killed more than three hundred people across Russia and gave Putin’s government a pretext for a full-scale military campaign in Chechnya. It was against the backdrop of this national emergency that the uncharismatic KGB officer—styling himself as Russia’s savior with the promise to “wipe out terrorists in the shithouse”—went from two percent in the polls to securing a parliamentary majority in December’s election. By New Year’s Eve, with Yeltsin’s surprise resignation, he was in the Kremlin; the following May many of the same lawmakers who had rushed through the confirmation vote to "get on with business” were guests at his presidential inauguration.

The rest, as the British say, is history.
Article URL: http://goo.gl/xm3iXB

 
  FB   Tweet   Trüki    Comment   E-post
Rahvusvahelised uudised
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
20 May 2025 09:43
Jüri Toomepuu Putini-Trumpi telefonikõnest: USA lahkumine kõnelustelt oleks Ukrainale isegi hea
20 May 2025 09:34
Jüri Toomepuu: Trumpi kannatuse piir on katkemas – kas venitamine läheb Putinile kalliks maksma?
20 May 2025 09:08
Välisturistide külastused Eesti muuseumidesse on kasvanud ligi viiendiku
20 May 2025 08:47
Eurovisiooni võitis Austria, Eesti ja Tommy Cash said kolmanda koha (1)
20 May 2025 08:11
Estonian Music Week juba kohal! Mida oodata?
20 May 2025 07:50
Jüripäeva paraad – nagu Kanadas, nõnda ka Eestimaal
20 May 2025 06:52
Riina SÕNA SABA: Pikad juhtmed
20 May 2025 06:43
Teet Kalmus: Putinit huvitab ainult otsesuhtlus Trumpiga (2)
16 May 2025 05:45
Teet Kalmus: Putin jätkab sõjaga, sest alternatiivid sellele on halvemad (14)
15 May 2025 20:57
Koolikella helinal suvele vastu
15 May 2025 08:09
Trump, Ukraina ja uue Euroopa sünd: Võidud, vead ja valusad õppetunnid (2)
15 May 2025 07:59
Töötute arv Eestis on viimase 12 aasta suurim (3)
14 May 2025 18:25
Estonia lacks capability to board suspicious ships near its shores (5)
14 May 2025 09:12
Jüri Toomepuu: Väikeriigid ei saa endale lubada vana poliitmänguri õpetuste ignoreerimist (2)
14 May 2025 05:43
Teet Kalmus: Putinile sobib sõja jätkumine Ukrainas kõige paremini (3)
13 May 2025 16:23
Tommy Cash jõudis Eurovisiooni finaali
12 May 2025 12:59
Eesti väliskaubandus näitab elavnemise märke
12 May 2025 06:35
Teet Kalmus: käivitunud on huvitavad poliitilised protsessid (8)
SÜNDMUSED LÄHIAJAL
Jun 5 2025 - Toronto
TLPA First Thursdays: Chef Ingo
Jun 5 2025 - Toronto
First Thursdays: Love Songs for a Sunny ...

Vaata veel ...

Lisa uus sündmus

Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam
Advertisement / Reklaam