Perhaps Yeltsin's Presidency Was Underappreciated

April 24, 2007 — -- Boris Yeltsin was the most despised politician in today's Russia.

All he could muster in a recent popularity poll was 2 percent. He was the man who effectively put an end to the Soviet superstate, who took away socialist security and replaced it with wild capitalism and corruption.

During his term in office, the average Russian's per capita income fell by 75 percent. People had to stand in line and literally fight for a loaf of bread.

Most painful, though, he deprived Russians of their sense of pride.

As one Duma deputy bellowed from the parliamentary rostrum at the time, "We are nothing now! The world is no longer afraid of us!"

And this is the point. That was President Yeltsin's greatest achievement. He struggled to turn Russia around and worked hard to transform it into a predictable, democratic state in tune with modern, post-Cold War times. No longer did the world need to face up to that mysterious, threatening nuclear power, and interest was turned elsewhere -- toward investment in the Russian market.

Without Yeltsin, would we see a prosperous new Russia that once again is an international player, where the Moscow stock exchange is hot, where Moscow city streets can compete with Las Vegas' in terms of voltage put to spectacular lighting effect? Most likely not.

For a good few years under Yeltsin, Russians had to tighten their belts; basics were difficult to get hold of. Bread and potatoes were the staple diet.

But there was spirit! There was excitement and anticipation of better times. Russians could tune in to an independent TV station and get impartial news, or read and learn about the outside world and, given the funds, actually go and see the world. (Thought only as a dream back then, many Russians can afford it now.)

It was a heady time of democratic freedoms, despite the everyday hardships, and many Russians loved the new era of self-expression.

Yeltsin made it happen.

Many, on the other hand, conditioned by their Soviet upbringing, couldn't bear the thought of their superpower state (which the whole world feared) disintegrating and given up for grabs to capitalists. They couldn't bear to watch the game shows on their TVs and hear the rock music pumping out of market stalls selling decadent lipstick and, God forbid, imported jeans.

In Soviet times you had to be enterprising and sometimes even "bend the law" to make a respectable living, and maybe run a market stall. Many at the time, mostly young men in the provinces, saw a chance and brought their Soviet upbringing to good use. They diverted trains with precious natural resources. Through "good contacts," they bought sought-after Russian-made Lada cars straight from the factory and sold them for double the price on the now legal open market. Fortunes were made overnight.

After some years of clever trading and investment, some were found by the roadside riddled with bullets. Others made it and are now the so-called oligarchs -- people who, for better or worse, co-run today's Russia.

Yeltsin allowed this to happen.