Talk:Boris Yeltsin/Archive 1

Yeltsin became Russian President in July 1991

Primo: Yeltsin became Russian President in July 1991, and Ivashko was acting secretary general in August Secundo: Ivashko wasn't Soviet Union leader, only acting party leader for few days after Gorbachev resignation

See Talk:Mikhail Gorbachev re:his predecessor. When there are only two entries, I don't think the navigation bar is useful at all. --Jiang 19:49, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

See Talk:Mikhail Gorbachev. Mikkalai 20:56, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Disagree. Many millons of people may not know there are only two entries. Shouldn't wikipedia inform them? Why have a prime minister X page if when we mention prime minister X in a different entry we can't link to it? Illogical. Moriori 21:43, Mar 3, 2004 (UTC)

Just noticed there's been a bit of to and froing re content on this page. Wasn't my intention to join in, just to try to make the entry better. I'm outta here (this page). Moriori 21:49, Mar 3, 2004 (UTC)

prime minister X page discusses the duties of the office, not the person. The purpose of the navigation bar is so people can read a bunch of entries in succession. There's no such need here and Boris Yeltsin did not succeed Gorbachev - Gorbachev was never President of Russia. --Jiang 07:48, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Discuss before reverting, please. --Jiang 06:29, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The term of office issue is confusing. The summary box says he was President of the Russian Federation from 10 June 1991 while the text below says President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until the formation of the Russian Federation on 25th December 1991. 124.179.72.52Talk changed the entry to say President of the Russian Federation from 25 Dec which is technically correct, but ignores his earlier presidency, and Wikipeterproject reverted that change because it is not actually correct either. Now I find a reference to July here in Talk. This is illogical and confusing. Can someone please sort it out? Djapa Owen (talk) 02:38, 25 December 2012 (UTC) Djapa Owen (talk)

In seventh grade at school he had two fingers on his left hand blown off by a grenade

In seventh grade at school he had two fingers on his left hand blown off by a grenade.

What is seventh grade? Edward 20:28, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

The seventh year of primary school eduction, usually around the age of 12.

Yeltsin died in 1999?

Russian "yellow" press back in 1999 speculated whether Yeltsin died before/during/or after the heart surgery in August 1999. And that he was replaced by a double (look-alike) on August 7th, 1999. I've read several articles about it in Russian: some of them sounded totally schizophrenic, whilst some others seem very logical and almost convincing. But, unfortunately, the photos that accompanied some of those articles were not so convincing. Yes, they show certain differences in ear shape, physiognomy features, but it's not very obvious on those low-quality photos that I saw. It could be just some editing in Photoshop, or simply an effect of different lightning and camera angle. Generally speaking, I think it could very well be true because I personally noticed myself how Yeltsin's manner of speech has changed after the surgery.

He didn't die. He attended his 75th birthday this year, attending it with government officials.

Why did I suddenly remember about it five years later?

First, I got reminded about it because several days ago (on July 21, 2004), there was an article in "New York Times" written by Stephen Sestanovich from US State Department. He mentions the fact that CIA agents from Moscow back then sent a message to CIA headquarters informing that Yeltsin has died. And later backtracked it...

Second, it's about him disappearing from public life. This is weird. You can see Gorbatchev appearing on Russian TV almost every week, giving interviews, appearing in commercials. Yeltsin is totally gone. He does not appear on TV, does not give any interviews, does not write any memoirs and is not even planning to do that. It's extremely unusual. I can't think of any other big leaders who were like that. Maybe, some Roman emperor?

This info is solely for discussion purposes, because, of course, it does not make sense to include on an encyclopedia page some stuff which only appeared in a couple Russian tabloids. rydel 12:42, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yeltsin died April 23rd, 2007. GoodDay 21:22, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

I think it's clear that his health issues were limiting his ability to appear publicly. Already by 1998 or so, he was very different from the beginning of his presidency. Ronald Reagan disappeared from public view after 1994 because of Alzheimer's disease. --Reuben (talk) 09:06, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeltsin deliberately made only a few public appearances because he did not want to criticise his successor Putin. (92.11.204.160 (talk) 15:25, 27 November 2013 (UTC))

That makes sense. He also drank a lot, they said, so that would have kept him out of the limelight. When you look at the 60 Minutes interview (probably still on youtube), Yeltsin was distraught and ashamed about what he had unleashed - so my impression. When he became in charge in Moscow, so I read recently, the housing situation was so bad and so corrupt that he called in the KGB to take over a whole suburb. Occasionally, there are rehearsals for the funerals of very high people. That could lead to people not listening properly thinking the person for whom they rehearsed had indeed died. Happened to the Queen Mother years ago. 2001:8003:AC60:1400:F1B0:EE00:592A:A161 (talk) 09:32, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Find that video through "Lesley Stahl and Rome Hartman's June 14, 1992 "60 Minutes" profile of Boris Yeltsin". I found it quite moving how someone who had achieved such a high position can be so distraught about what he had unleashed. 2001:8003:AC60:1400:846A:C29C:9982:84B6 (talk) 05:59, 27 March 2019 (UTC)

Life after resignation

Ha, so he is a drunkered. That may explain how he can be able to live without feeling guilty of the number of life he has destroyed with his mis guided actions. Sure, the freaking communist government canned anybody who tried to be vocal, but at least there was only 2% of the population living in poverty.. Now, a solid 40% a living in poverty and if life isn't broken by Mafia within Russia, then they forced prostitution in West Europe will do you in. Thanks again for going along with IMF and Wall street. And thank you also Western government and media for standing firm along the Mafia who sold out their citizen

I agree. I think the Soviet Union would've did very well after that whole "cold war" thing. Now the women are being prostituted, exploited, and systematically ruined by foreignors. Ever hear of mail order bride businesses? The ugly side of Capitalism. They exchange women for money, and then they are subjected to perverts in the US, and elsewhere. It's all very true, very documented. I'm actually a US citizen, I just think the system here is horrible. I'd like to give Participatory Economics a go. Crud3w4re 08:21, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeltsin and Alcohol

An aquaintance attended a state reception where Yeltsin was the guest of honor. The table was laid out in such a way that each guest had several drinking glasses, the smallest (a shot glass) ranging through wine glasses, brandy glass and a large glass for water. When the vodka came around and the waiter tried to pour Yeltsin a vodka into the shot glass, Yelstin covered it with his hand, grabbed the water glass, raising it the waiter, and said "I only drink from this one tonight!". He got it filled with Vodka. What a guy. Commking 2 October 2005

Early life

BTW, Yeltsin loved music. He loved to sing and he has many of his own songs. This is something that usually comes from family or grand parents. Were they musicians? Why we have no or so little knowledge about his family, father, mother? According to one source his father never came back from labor camp.

Just added small piece of trivia about how yeltsin lost his fingers in an accident involving a grenade.

B

Comment about early life

There exists a version that Jeltsin is actually Albert Tennosaar, a junger brother of Estonian singer Kalmer Tennosaar. He was born on 14-oct-1933 in Kiidjärve, Estonia in a miller family. During the 1941 forced mass deportation Kalmers small brother was among the people deported to Siberia. There exists a a Estonian radio fonogram from year 1989 where one old lady describes her memories about the deportation: "There was an episode I never forget. In the wagon we had a very lively jung boy who sang all the time and played with he's veneer doll. When the train started to move the doll fall out of the wagon door. One soldier wanted to give the doll back while at the same time the other closed the door so that the boy's fingers were crashed between the door. So, there he cried whole night, he's hand was all in blood, only next day when the train stopped in Kondopogas, he was taken out and we never saw him again. He's name was Alfred or Albert, I don't remember exactly.." Thats how he lost his two left hand fingers. There is a bit more tracks in russian archives: there is one entry regarding Konovo childcare department on december/6/1941: Albert, weight 27.6kg, height 132,2cm (normal size for 8 year boy), next entry to the same medical record card is made in Perm, Jeltso child care no 22. The name "Tenozar Albert" is scored out and replaced by "Jeltsin Boris Nik".

All the investigation started after Jeltsin urgent visit to Estonia in January 1991. At the time the Russian media touched the subject only brefly. From Estonian newspaper "Postimees" january 16 1991 it was written: "Jeltsin used a car escort to return to Russia. They came by plane why not use the same method to return? The car escort was demanded by Jeltsin security team" Valentin Mamakin, a bodiguard of Jeltsin writes in an article of "Novõi Dialog 2/1994": "We squized three of us onto backseat - Boris Nikolaevich in the middle and two bodyguards on both sides: Aleksandr Korzhakov and I. As soon as we got out of Tallinn heading to Petersburg, Jeltsin suddenly said "Tartu"/ a southern city of Estonia/. We knew that in situations like this it is better to follow the orders. And before Maardu our escort turned to south. Not far from Tartu there is a little place called Kiidjärve. Suddenly Jeltsin stops the car, walks out to the mill, stays there alone about 5 minutes, then returns and says "go!". After one hour our plain takes off from Tartu"

And of course, the similarity of two brothers: Kalmer Albert

Only DNA test could tell the truth!

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.216.199.6 (talk) 19:58, 25 April 2007 (UTC).

Um, ok here, some crazy theories there. Perhaps we should stick to fact, and not a thery. A thery is a thery until proven otherwise, and this is a thery only. I ask the mods here to question the user on the source of these claims. Thank You. Yeltsinfan 03:42, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Religion?

What was boris yelstin's religion?doles 18:26, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Eastern Orthodox. He was baptised as he was an infant and he has labelled himself an orthodox christian. Constanz 17:15, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Could you please point out the source of this information? I live in Russia and heard more than once as he said on TV that he is an atheist. Maybe he changed his religion after this, but I don't know when and where he announced this change. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 85.140.107.2 (talk) 16:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC).

I found a mention of his atheism [1] and his own declaration [2] (in Russian). Though he visited churches as state head, he was not orthodox. Almost all russian children are baptised just after birth, it does not affect their religion. I am not sure these links should be included to the article, but his real religion should be specified. --Stopar 09:30, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

NPOV?

I don't see any discussion here on NPOV, removing tag from article. Ckampmeier 08:01, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeltsin drunk

Must the part about his half clothed, pizza driven wanderings be included? It is unnecessarily mocking of Yeltsin's personal life.

Allegations of alcoholism belong in this article [3] Andries 18:36, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Um, no, they dont. First of all, excuse me for being a little bit late on this topic, but Yeltsin's problems should not be mentioned. I know this is a source of knoledge, and yes, yeltsin did have a problem with alcohol, but should we focus on Boris Yeltsin's career, and not his problems? Thank you. Yeltsinfan 03:39, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Elvis link

Are we sure that that link about him being an Elvis fan isn't a joke? The page doesn't seem reputable. 128.175.205.52 04:30, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Was this guy an oligarch?

It might be worth it to specificly say that he was a member of an oligarchy and not just mention asking for pizza in underpants... Dzerzhinsky 13:55, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

Grammar

The article needs quite a bit of revision, focusing on grammar and proper sentence structure. There are also a host of spelling mistakes that should be corrected. Cumulus Clouds 01:38, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

I think this article is horribly written.

Full text not displayed after editing section

Something went wrong when I was editing a section - all the text after that section was not displayed on the page after I saved. I tried pasting it back in, but it's still not displayed. The full text of the article plus all categories and other language pages etc are still in the edit box - just not displaying. I've asked at the help desk already - Wikipedia:Help_desk#Full_text_not_displaying_after_editing_article_section. —Maiya 15:11, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Image

The main image has been removed by OrphanBot and will soon be deleted unless its original source is found. I have put up another image to save the article from being imageless, feel free to replace it if you find a better one.--Konst.able 07:43, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Life after resignation

This section doesn't seem very neutral to me. The tone of the article seems definitely accusatory, as if the author has made up his mind and wishes to convince the reader; I guess it also carries over from the end of the previous section, which seems to ramp up its anti-Yeltsin bias near the end. I'm putting the non-NPOV tag back for that section only. It could use a good editing.--Roland 17:26, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I hope that Boris Yeltsin gets burned at the stake as he deserves. He's a thief of the worst kind.

Conflict with the parliament in 1993

The story on Yeltsin's actions in 1993 sounds a bit biased. As soon as the author mentiones a historical event, especially such a controversial one, the tale should include description of the activities of both sides of the conflict. From the currently published piece one may conclude that Yeltsin was a child-eating beast who attacked a flock of angels. Not a word about MPs leading crowds of people to invade the national TV station, or vice-president Rutskoi trying to send Air Force to bomb the Kremlin, or many other things. Yuniq 20:19, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

It looked accurate to me. Crud3w4re 08:35, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Agree with Yuniq, this part and article generally very biased against Yeltsin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.240.237.227 (talk) 05:06, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I think the current state of first paragraph borders with vandalism. Intentionally biased and in contrast with the standalone article about 1993 crises. Admins? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.85.235.26 (talk) 13:32, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Poverty

Should it be noted that he's oftetimes the guy Russians blame for their misfortunes? There was 2% poverty in the SU, now it's up to 40%, and their GDP never recovered. I think that there should be some mention of public opinion of him in Russia. He really isn't liked at all, that I know. Crud3w4re 08:24, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

There was 95% poverty in the SU, simply by lowering the poverty line to encompass the vast majority of people you can surely say that there's no poverty in the country, and insofar as people had no access to appreciate the wealth of their western buddies nobody complained. So... I dunno, in my opinion the great unwashed in SU were as broke as... well, as a SU citizen back in the day. --Dennis Valeev 16:49, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

What the hell are you talking about? Did you live in the USSR? There is no comparison of how the average person lived then and now. Stop reading all the pro-Western bs about the USSR. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.105.45.121 (talk) 18:07, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

Uh-huh. --Dennis Valeev 18:47, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I can verify the claim, I used to live there. Also, many statistics of the Soviet Era are not reputable, seeing as how government propaganda had a say in practically everything. My mother was a lawyer, and made a considerable income for those days, but most of the top 20% to 15% of the Soviet Socio-Economic demographic did not have as high a quality of life as compared to that of the top 60% (the middle Class and up) of the United States. So, yes, there was rampant poverty. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.3.75.32 (talk) 20:34, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Value of chalet?

They also allegedly own a villa in France worth US$11 million, a chalet in Courchevel, France worth €.5 million

The villa is worth 11 million and the chalet 0.5 million? Is it really half a million or should it be 5 million?71.32.56.91 18:31, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

Logical breach

"He was fond of sports (in particular skiing, gymnastics, volleyball, track and field, boxing and wrestling) despite losing two fingers when he and some friends snuck into a Red Army supply depot, stole several grenades, and tried to dissect them."

This doesn't quite make sense, as sports and "trying to dissect grenades" are not related as such. Rephrase?

For one, dissecting grenades? Dissassembling, maybe.

For two, yes, the two don't logically flow. One can be fond of sports and not even play them, so physical injury isn't relevant. Two separate pieces of information. 60.226.133.172 05:09, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

He's dead?

Either the AP and Reuters are taking Sunday off or some joker listed that Yeltsin died January 17th of this year on the template. I'm removing it. - Throw 00:17, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

The russian news agencies just said Boris Yeltsin died today April 23th. El Ucca 13:57, 23 April 2007 (UTC) BBC confirms http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584481.stm

Yup. I actually posted that two months ago. Looks like Yeltsin outlived the prank by two whole months. - Throw 14:27, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

dead?

i heard on the radio that he just died 4/23/07

Yes, its been confirmed by Interfax that Boris Yeltsin died today, 23 April 2007. The article has been updated.

so sad

'so sad' eh? He was a thief or at least in bed with thieves, what's so sad about him dying?

A little respect please. Ashnard _talk 19:43, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Original research problems

I removed a couple of statements that violate WP:SYN. In both cases the article stated that a specific action of Yeltsin violated the law or constitution of Russia. According to WP:SYN, such a statement must be supported by a citation that makes this exact claim. A citation to the relevant provision of the law and constitution on its own is not enough. Please do not reinsert these sentences without such citations: otherwise this is Original research. Thanks. Grover cleveland 14:43, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Alcoholism

File:Yeltsin and Clinton laughing.jpeg

Boris Yeltsin making a speech and Bill Clinton laughing during a press conference on October 23, 1995 in Hyde Park, New York

After the article gets stabilized the edit [4] which deleted the whole section about Yeltsin's alcoholism ("removed unsourced and POV/OR speculation and gossip about a living person") may be revised. Pavel Vozenilek 15:05, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

The article has to mention this. The picture on the right would fit IMHO. (it was removed because it didn't fit in anywhere, after all the text was removed) --Ysangkok 20:05, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't remember what Yeltsin did or said to make Clinton crack up so much. Anyone else remember? MrBlondNYC 00:30, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

It about Yeltsin calling the US media as a disaster. Click this for the video. __earth ^(Talk) 05:47, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

It's also mentioned at the image page. --Ysangkok 21:08, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I strongly agree - this part of Yeltsin's life belongs in the article. As a reference, http://www.discoverychannelasia.com/altered_statesmen/yeltsin/index.shtml. A Discovery Channel piece on "Altered Statesmen". --Dumarest 12:39, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Wouldn't the iamge fit in the "second term" section? --Ysangkok 14:34, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Just a note. Tregubova in her book ("Kremlin's digger") claimed that Yeltsin was actually drugged by his "doctors", and these drugs in combination with a small dose of alcohol produced his bizzar behavior. That was intentionally done to discredit Yeltsin, she hints. Is anyone familiar with this subject? Right now Tregubova is hiding somewhere in London from Moscow investigators who asked Berezovsky about her hiding place. Biophys 21:31, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

I checked this reference. According to former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov, the bizarre behavior of Yeltsin resulted from "strong drugs" given to him by Kremlin's doctors. These unidentified drugs could not be combined even with a small amount of alcohol. This was mentioned by Tregubova in connection with an episode during Yeltsin's visit to Stockholm in 1997 when Yeltsin suddenly started telling nonsense and almost fell down at a podium after drinking only a single glass of Champaign.Biophys 15:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

...Or maybe he was just a drunk like everyone else says, Im no fan of the soviet system but American/right-wing Russian eidtors seem to have ther own way entrely with the USSR and post-USSr. Yeltsin was a drunk, he lived in hard times, witha hard job, so it is understandable he turned to alcoholism, simply citing a crackpot theory (which I havent seen the actual basis for) does not make Yeltsin perfect, neither does bringing the most innocecent Berezovsky (who need I remind you is probablly more of a threat to Putin, than Putin is to him, after calling for an armed coup against him), who spouts nonsense/exagerates constantly (both are about as bad to me), and continous to do so after running away with half of Russia's economy to settle in some manor.172.200.68.18 (talk) 22:02, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

edit this page button is broken

Why bother making this a wiki if pages linked from the main page are only editable by admins? --24.235.229.208 17:12, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not an admin and I can edit it just fine - unfortunately pages linked from the main page, related to major news stories, etc, are frequently the targets of overwhelming vandalism. Consider getting an account. Vashti 17:50, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I tried that. The admins keep blocking or deleting them. --24.235.229.208 04:37, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

What Vashti is trying to say is that this page is semi protected Wikipedia:Semi protection to prevent anon vandalism. Only established editors can edit it Nil Einne 22:05, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, in that case, can somebody else fix the grammatical error "his body lied in state" (should be "lay")?

removed uncited claims

I've removed the following, since ,at this time I think it looks especially unsightly to have (citation needed) in the article. The "facts" may be true - I've heard similar things before - but they need citation. Please feel free to add them back - with proper reference.

He studied hard, and throughout his time at school he was the class leader (староста, starosta). However, he lacked discipline and was often unruly. He participated in street fights, and he was constantly in conflict with teachers at school or with his father. In these conflicts he often emerged victorious. For example, when his 7-year education certificate was revoked, he demanded that a committee be formed to investigate the case; he eventually had the certificate restored and the teacher responsible for the revocation fired. He passed the 10-year education exams without taking the full course.

and lower down the allegations against Abramovich might be true but don't fit in the flow very well and are un-referenced. The one reference given doesn't match with the text.

According to General Korzhakov and others, Roman Abramovich was the major finance manager of Yeltsin's family. It is also alleged that Yeltsin provided Abramovich with protection from prosecution for various criminal activities ranging from stealing diesel fuel to illegally acquiring Sibneft at a staged contest.

SKSingh 18:52, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Gorbachev & the Infobox

Russia was once a part of the USSR, however so were 14 other (current) countries (Ukraine, Georgia .etc). If we're going to list Gorbachev as Yeltsin's (sorta) Soviet Presidential predecessor, then Gorby should be listed as such in the article infoboxes of the 1st (post Soviet) Georgia President, 1st Ukraine President, 1st Azerbijan President etc. GoodDay 19:35, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

The Lead

Does it really have to be this long? Shouldn't it just be an introductory paragraph? I believe this should be re-structured — does anybody agree? (Why so many questions?). Ashnard _talk 19:42, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

• I agree it is better to rewrite it. Kulikovsky 21:20, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

please add the link to the Occitan wikipedia

oc:Boris Yeltsin - thank you.201.0.66.249 21:51, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Done Nil Einne 22:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Convert reactions list to prose

Please do not list the reactions of each country. Instead, the reactions can be divided into paragraphs, where each paragraph mentions a group of countries that are in the same region.66.76.60.154 00:00, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Currently the topic is too hot, as comments keep coming. We'll have to wait several days until it becomes calmer to start the rewrite, I'm afraid. MaxSem 10:20, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeltsin working in a gulag at three years old?

His D.O.B. is listed as 1931, and the article says he was sentenced to *hard* labor in a gulag in 1934, which would make him three years old. It goes on to say he stayed for a couple years and after he left, he was unemployed for several years, which i could see....being that he would be around ten years old. It makes no sense to me.Sivadrake 04:03, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

His father was sentenced to hard labor, not Boris himself. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return Fire)} 04:09, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I just now noticed that as I read through it again!Sivadrake 06:31, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Why is this section in the article? It used to be part of the intro until someone artificially decided to cut it off as a new heading. Then another editor decided to put it after early life despite the fact that the following sections are about Yeltsin in the 60-70s. Moving it further along the article is no go since this section basically recaps the rest of his political career. Therefore, it should be deleted or trimmed and added back to the intro. 128.227.50.192 06:17, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure if putting it in the intro is a good idea, the lead is too long as it is. SGGH 08:40, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

The President of Finland's cite found here

[5]

Added. --Pudeo (Talk) 12:14, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Deaths during shock therapy

I think the following should be added to the introductory section:

An extra 2.5-3 million Russian adults died during the period 1992-2001, which according to a study in the British Medical Journal was "unprecedented in a modern industrialised country in peacetime". Most of them died from increased violence and vascular disease.

Source: Men T, Brennan P, Boffetta P, Zaridze D., 2003. Russian mortality trends for 1991-2001: analysis by cause and region. British Medical Journal 327:964-966. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Storsien (talk • contribs) 11:14, 24 April 2007 (UTC).

Is this related to Yeltsin? I also lived in Russia during that time, so maybe I am to blame. This article is about Yeltsin rather than the period 1992-2001. Colchicum 09:33, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

It is about the Yeltsin policies causing such dire conditions that people died. Not the privileged like you it seems. Political discussions are all very well, but what matters is how people live and too many people had the rug pulled from underneath them at the time. The vouchers in enterprises were sold to sales people from the West, often travelling around the country and buying them up for peanuts. Then in Moscow the next layer of buyers would pool them and attend the auctions where the enterprises were auctioned off for vouchers. Bill Browder describes how people were also prevented by competitors to get to the auctions, i.e. create an air traffic hazard to close an airport or let tyres burn in the streets near to the place of auction. Yeltsin was a weakling to not prevent dodgy practices. 2001:8003:AC60:1400:15D3:AA82:6BD5:3073 (talk) 04:27, 12 January 2019 (UTC)

Did you introduce the shock therapy policies? Considering he was the one responsible for the policies that caused all those deaths, I don't understand how it could be considered irrelevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.170.90.132 (talk) 22:42, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Merge proposal: Naina Yeltsina

I think Naina should be merged here. She's just his wife w/o independent notability and there's nothing about that sub-stub that cannot and should not be covered here. -- Y not? 13:43, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I agree with you, if there was more to write about her then the article about her would be seperate, but the content of her article is so limited, it should be just a section about Boris. YemeniteCamel 13:58, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

A definite yes! Go for it! SGGH 14:18, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I have added the info from the wife article into this one at the end of the death section (feel free to move it to a more appropriate place) I have done this prior to a full concensus being reached here because, in the unlikely event of this merger being denied, the info in the wife article still should be in the main one anyway. Hope you all agree SGGH 14:23, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I think Nania should be included in Boris's article. If she ends up doing things that merit an article in her on right or we learn more about her great, otherwise leave it in Boris's article. Briaboru.

Oppose. (see Naina's talk page) Camptown 14:50, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

I also think it should be merged! Superzohar [[User

talk:Superzohar|Talk]] 18:40, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Oppose merge. -- Petri Krohn 22:15, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Oppose. Wikipedia has plenty of articles about first ladies, many of them much less notable per se. Colchicum 22:41, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

And a full biography of her woudn't be appropriate here. Colchicum 22:43, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Oppose. As first lady she deserved a separate article, like othersBiophys 13:45, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Oppose. I agree that as a First Lady she deserves to have her own biography. A link from Boris Yeltsin's page is sufficient.melanieness 18:01, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Oppose. If Martha Washington can have an article, then the 1st First Lady of the Russian Federation, should as well. GoodDay 18:18, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeltsin is laid to rest

I have the news that Boris Yeltsin was given a decent funeral and buried in the cemetery with the artists. You should definitely update the article, because here's the link if you're interested. --Angeldeb82 02:15, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Kremlin?

Why wasn't he buried in the Kremlin? Is it filled up? Did he have a request?

The Kremlin is a Soviet cemetery, and people didn't want Yeltsin to be buried in Soviet ground, since he was post Soviet. I read that on the news a few days ago. --Angeldeb82 17:05, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

hip operation: need some carefull invastigation

Ther's a common misconception about this.Old peopol think they break their femur due to the fall, when in fact in most of the times the bone break first ,and then the person wasn't able to sustain his equilibrium and falls,and since the inside of the bone don't fell pain he has no way knowing that it was broken before. This theory is reinforced by the fact that he was alcoholic,and one side effect it's osteoporosis.I doubt that journalists know that,they probably propagated the usual misconception, it's so counter intuitive that you actually fell because of the fracture and not the other way around.--87.65.184.173 10:21, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Do you have any sources that confirm this in this particular case? Otherwise it is original research. MaxSem 13:16, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

That's not actually his contention. His contention is that the claim he broke it by falling itself is OR, without citation. At best, what this calls for is some citation of the injury - at the risk of oversimplifying - he suffered a broken bone and fell; we don't know if the broken bone caused the fall, or the fall caused the broken bone. He's just calling for a check on which came first, the break or the fall? 60.226.133.172 05:14, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

See the citated article: "he stumbled breaking the leg in Sardinia, Italy". MaxSem 09:18, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

"next to the grave of Russia’s former Security Council Secretary and Yeltsin’s one time ally, General Alexander Lebed"

According to this, it was planned so, but later ot was re-desided and he was buried next to Igor Kio. I'm removing info about Lebed. MaxSem 17:31, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

From Katyń massacre

Russian President Boris Yeltsin released and transferred to the new Polish president, former Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa, top-secret documents from the sealed package no. 1.[53][1] Among the documents included Lavrenty Beria's March 1940 proposal[54] to shoot 25,700 Poles from Kozelsk, Ostashkov and Starobels camps, and from certain prisons of Western Ukraine and Belarus with the signature of Stalin (among others); an excerpt from the Politburo shooting order[6] of March 5 1940; and Aleksandr Shelepin's March 3, 1959 note[55] to Nikita Khrushchev, with information about the execution of 21,857 Poles and with the proposal to destroy their personal files. Xx236 07:34, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Died at 77

Actualy he is died at the age 77. I know nothing about CNN or BBC but information they provided is incorrect. Few ref links: http://breaking.moscowblog.ru/5879/ http://www.rambler.ru/news/politics/eltsin/525609001.html @by DarthRahn|talk on 14:41, May 17, 2024 (UTC) <- also from russia

Actually, it's such a turn of speech in Russian - "died on 77th year of his life" means that he's already 76 and is living another year. MaxSem 20:26, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Since he was born in February 1931, I don't think it would count as original research to calculate his age.--Boson 21:47, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Yea, but still kinda strange. I can calculate his age as well but some websites cannot ;\ @by DarthRahn|talk on 14:41, May 17, 2024 (UTC)

International reaction

The international reaction is Russian.Xx236 07:13, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Myths

There seems to be a shroud of myths and legends surrounding Yeltsin's life - stories that are unfounded but interesting nonetheless. The Economist reports some of these. http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9074306&fsrc=nwl

Gautam ^Discuss 23:46, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Deletion of material

Stop it. This is properly cited and referenced. Intangible2.0 18:25, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

The Gerber article clearly states that the Central Bank of Russia caused the hyperinflation. Stop this reverting, it borders to vandalism. Intangible2.0 14:08, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

I do not know if you are misrepresenting the Gerber article, or understand the subject. Russia specialists and economists generally fault the central bank for failing to tighten the money supply. Central bank policies were an aggravating factor of inflation in 1992, not the underlying cause. No one seriously disputes the underlying cause of hyperinflation in 1992 was the repressed inflation of the Soviet planned economy. Jeffery Sachs, the Harvard economist whose work dominated the early literature on the economics of transition, explains

Russia's inflation rate for 1992 was higher than Brazil's in part because of Russia's deliberate policy of price liberalization that yielded inflation of 250% in the single month of January 1992. In the old Soviet system, the money supply had been swelling out of control. The budget deficit in 1991 was around 25% of GDP.Until January 1992, inflation had been repressed by price controls. So the only place you really saw the hyper- inflation was in black markets. In January, the repressed inflation was opened by freeing prices. At official prices, all trade was collapsing. [6]

172 | Talk 16:52, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Gerber writes: "The shock of prize liberalization induced inflation. The Central Bank of Russia's loose monetary policy spurred it on to hyperinflation."

Aslund writes: "In 1992 alone, the net credit issue of the Central Bank of Russia was 32 percent of GDP...The bankers argued that the credit was a "Keynesian" boost for industrial production, but Russia's production actually plummeted in the wake of the hyperinflation caused by the easy credit."

Removal of price controls in itself cannot spur on a long-term inflationary cycle, such as seen through 1992. The principle cause remains the loose monetary policy by a really bad central banker.

Pedantics aside, you have some explaining to do for your reverts. Intangible2.0 18:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Sachs refers to hyperinflation repressed by the price controls. Sachs happens to be far more influential in the literature on the Russian economy than Gerber. My reverts were necessary to keep POV and off-topic asides out of the intro. 172 | Talk 01:16, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay, so the consensus you were talking about is just whatever Sachs is writing apparently (he wasn't even mentioned in the text you reverted to). Aslund is at least as "influential" as Sachs, they even worked together, and quit their Russian jobs on the same day. You have not given any counterevidence whatsoever that the principal cause of (hyper)inflation during the 1992/1993 period was not the loose credit policy of the Russian central bank. Please do. The above quote of Sachs means nothing, he only talks about the period before January 1992, and the article is not about Russia in a long stretch of the imagination. Intangible2.0 17:02, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

mistake

Yeltsin is listed as prime minister of Russia between kiriyenko and chernomyrdin which is clearly wrong (it's in the box at the end). I don'tknow how to change it but I am sure someone else will Edwardlucas 06:18, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

Image:1991 coup yeltsin.jpg

The image Image:1991 coup yeltsin.jpg, which is copyrighted the Associated Press, is used in this page. Wikipedia has to be extremely careful when using AP images, because the threat of a lawsuit is very real. We can only use such images when the image itself (and not just the subject depicted) is iconic and historically important, and when the image is discussed significantly in the article text (not just the caption). For that reason this image was recently nominated for deletion here. Although I chose not to delete the image for now, it is very important that the article be modified to clearly describe the importance of this particular image. If that isn't done, the image will probably be nominated for deletion again soon, and it may be deleted this time. – Quadell ^{(talk) (random)} 19:19, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

President/Prime Minister of Russia OR Russian Federation

Which title are we gonna use for President & Prime Minister? Remember aswell, Yeltsin became President & Prime Minister of an independant Russia only in December 1991 upon the dissoultion of the USSR. Before the Soviet break-up, Yelsin was President & Prime Minister of Soviet Russia. GoodDay (talk) 02:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

• In legalistic sense that does not matter as the RSFSR had declared its sovereignty back on June 12, 1990. In fact, under the USSR constitution all the constituent republics were sovereign and free to secede (Articles 76 and 72 respectively of the 1977 Constitution).Muscovite99 (talk) 19:50, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Russia however didn't become independant until December 1991. GoodDay (talk) 17:35, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

First Soviet/Russian leader to die in retirement

"He was the first leader in Russian and Soviet history to die quietly in retirement"

What about Khruschev? This smells like a POV addition written by someone with a bias to make a stupid political "observation," and, frankly, it's flat out wrong. Unless someone has a damn good reason for keeping it in I say it needs to be removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.170.90.132 (talk) 22:58, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

I concur. Both Lenin and Khruschev died in retirement. The article was talking about the difficulties they have staging the higher range state funerals for a retired person (so no official symbols of power they could use) as well as the difficulties combining secular state funerals with the religious traditions. The source did not make the incorrect assessment directly. The phrase removed Alex Bakharev (talk) 11:59, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1695880.ece was the source of that remark. Paul Melville Austin (talk) 11:42, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Religion

I have removed Russian Orthodox Church from the infobox. The question of his religion is not very clear. For most of his life he was a communist and subsequently atheist (at least publicly). Later he visited churches but it is unclear whether he visited them as a state official or as a believer. Please find reliable references Alex Bakharev (talk) 11:42, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

• After the second thought I have restored the Orthodox Church. His funerals by the Orthodox traditions are good enough as indicators of his religion Alex Bakharev (talk) 11:54, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeltsin and the Anthrax acknowledgement

This article [7] brings forth evidence that Yeltsin in fact did acknowledge that the plague at Sverdlovsk was caused by a mishap at a military biological facility though the Defense establishment continued to deny it.Bert Schlossberg (talk) 18:49, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

"The final breakthrough did not come until after the Soviet Union had ceased to exist at the end of 1991, and Boris Yeltsin came to power as the new head of the Russian government. Yeltsin had a personal connection to the Sverdlovsk issue, as he had been Communist Party chief in the region at the time of the anthrax outbreak, and he believed the KGB and military had lied to him about the true explanation. At a summit meeting with President George Bush in February 1992, Yeltsin told Bush that he agreed with U.S. accusations regarding Soviet violation of the 1972 biological weapons convention, that the Sverdlovsk incident was the result of an accident at a Soviet biological warfare installation, and promised to clean up this problem. In a May 27th interview, Yeltsin publicly revealed what he had told Bush in private:

"We are still deceiving you, Mr. Bush. We promised to eliminate bacteriological weapons. But some of our experts did everything possible to prevent me from learning the truth. It was not easy, but I outfoxed them. I caught them red-handed. I found two test sites. They are inoculating tracts of land with anthrax, allowing wild animals to go there and observing them..."(5)

In a subsequent interivew, Yeltsin expanded on the deception he says the Soviet military had played upon him and the world concerning the Sverdlovsk outbreak:

Interviewer: You knew about the development of bacteriological weapons in Sverdlovsk. But it was only recently that you first talked about it publicly. Why did you keep quiet all this time? Yeltsin: First, nobody asked me about it. And, second, when I learned these developments were under way, I visited [the KGB chairman Yuriy] Andropov. . . . When there was an anthrax outbreak, the official conclusion stated it was carried by some dog, though later the KGB admitted that our military development was the cause. Andropov phoned [Minister of Defense Dimitriy] Ustinov and ordered these production facilities to be completely scrapped. I believed that this had been done. It turned out that the laboratories were simply moved to another oblast and development of the weapons continued. And I told Bush, [British prime minister John] Major, and [French president Francois] Mitterand this, that the program was under way. . . . I signed a decree setting up a special committee and banning the program. It was only after this that experts flew out specially and stopped the work.(6)"Bert Schlossberg (talk) 09:12, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Political Party: Scribble Party of the Soviet Union

Methinks vandalism is afoot, needs changing to None —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.232.248.39 (talk) 22:48, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Vandalism reverted. Thanks for pointing that out. WereSpielChequers 23:00, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Tatyana Dyachenko's birthday

In this article, it says Tatyana Dyachenko was born in 1959, but in the article "Tatyana Dyachenko," it says she was born in 1960. Which date is correct? Lone radical (talk) 19:41, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation

Can we please have the opinion of a native Russian speaker on the indicated pronunciation of Yeltsin's name (Ru-Boris_Nikolayevich_Yeltsin.ogg).

Apart from the exaggerated slow delivery, the softened "ц" in the surname sounds wrong to me, but I'm not a native speaker. Mike Shepherd (talk) 01:39, 26 November 2014 (UTC)

Yes, you're right. The speaker has Level 2 (of 5) knowness about Russian.

Yeltsin sounds in Russian like Yel'tsyn. Sorry, but my English isn't good.

I have English from 3rd grade. (Do not ask me why)

--84.151.172.101 (talk) 15:26, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

Political Bias in this Article

I find this article systematically edited, so now it represents the views of Socialist/Communist/Leftist editors. Not a word is said about political and economic freedoms that the people gained during Yeltsin's times; never are mentioned his words "Take as much freedom as you can". The whole impression is that it was written by the members of a Communist Party, hard to tell which. This looks especially disgusting these days. Yes, I agree, he was a controversial figure. But let's show him as a controversial figure, not as an enemy of the people. Vlad Patryshev (talk) 18:54, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

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A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion

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Tatyana Borisovna Yumasheva ; born January 17, 1960

Tatyana Borisovna Yumasheva (Russian: Татьяна Борисовна Юмашева; born January 17, 1960 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.41.3.22 (talk) 13:12, 16 December 2018 (UTC)