Encyclopedia of Russian History

Yeltsin’s last years in office were marked by a declining economy, rising corruption, and frequent turnover in the office of prime minister. The oligarchs soon turned on each other, fighting for assets and access. Yeltsin’s immediate family was implicated in a variety of graft schemes. With the economy declining, Yeltsin embarked on prime minister roulette. He fired Chernomyrdin, replacing

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

Russian president Boris Yeltsin appeals to the people to vote in the 1993 referendum. © PETER TURNLEY/CORBIS him with Sergei Kiriyenko (March-August 1998), Chernomyrdin again (August 23-September 10), then Yevgeny Primakov (September 10, 1998-May 12, 1999), and Sergei Stepashin (May 12-August 8). In August 1998 the ruble collapsed, and Russia defaulted on its foreign loan obligations. Next in line as prime minister came ex-KGB agent Vladimir Putin.

In 1999 Yeltsin associates floated the idea of his running for a third term. They argued that the two-term limit imposed by the 1993 constitution might not count Yeltsin’s 1991 election, as it occurred under different political and legal circumstances. Yeltsin’s health was a key concern, as was his family’s complicity in a growing number of corruption schemes. Before Yeltsin could leave office he needed a suitable successor, one that could protect him and his family. On New Year’s Eve, 1999, Yeltsin went on television to make a surprise

1709

YELTSIN CONSTITUTION

announcement-his resignation. According to the constitution, Prime Minister Putin would succeed him, with elections called within three months. As acting president, Putin’s first action was to grant Yeltsin immunity from prosecution.

Yeltsin retired quietly to his dacha outside of Moscow. Unlike Gorbachev, he did not form his own think tank or join the international lecture circuit. Instead, Yeltsin wrote his third volume of memoirs, Midnight Diaries, and largely kept out of politics and public life. See also: AUGUST 1991 PUTSCH; CHECHNYA AND THE CHECHENS; CHUBAIS, ANATOLY BORISOVICH; DYACHENKO, TATIANA BORISOVNA; GAIDAR, YEGOR TIMUROVICH; GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH; KHASBULATOV, RUSLAN IMRANOVICH; KORZHAKOV, ALEXANDER VASILEVICH; OCTOBER 1993 EVENTS; PUTIN, VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH; RUTSKOI, ALEXANDER VLADIMIROVICH

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Breslauer,George W. (2002). Gorbachev and Yeltsin As Leaders. New York: Cambridge University Press. Dunlop, John B. (1993). The Rise of Russia and the Fall of the Soviet Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Shevtsova, Lilia. (1999). Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and Reality. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Yeltsin, Boris. (1990). Against the Grain. New York: Summit. Yeltsin, Boris. (1994). The Struggle for Russia. New York: Random House. Yeltsin, Boris. (2000). Midnight Diaries. New York: Public Affairs.

ANN E. ROBERTSON

YELTSIN CONSTITUTION See CONSTITUTION OF

1993.

paign are still disputed. Most sources indicate that he was a Volga Cossack who fled north in 1581 in order to escape punishment for piracy; Ruslan Skrynnikov, however, argues that Yermak was fighting in the Livonian War in 1581 and went to Siberia in 1582. Yermak and his Cossack band were hired by the Stroganovs, a family of wealthy Urals merchants, to protect their possessions against attacks by the Tatars and other indigenous peoples of Siberia. Thereafter Yermak and his band of a few hundred men set off along the Siberian rivers in lightweight boats; it is not clear whether the Stroganovs sent them to attack the Siberian khanate, or whether the decision to go on to the offensive was taken by the Cossacks. In October 1582 they defeated the Siberian khan, Kuchum, and occupied his capital, Kashlyk (Isker). The local peoples recognized Yermak’s authority and rendered him tribute. In 1585, however, Khan Kuchum launched a surprise attack on the Cossack camp and killed most of the band. Yermak himself, according to legend, drowned in the River Irtysh, weighed down by a suit of armour that he had received as a gift from the tsar. Subsequent expeditions continued the Russian annexation of Siberia that Yermak had pioneered. After his death Yermak became a folk hero; his achievements were celebrated in oral tales and songs, and later depicted in popular prints (lubki). See also: IVAN IV; SIBERIA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Armstrong, Terence, ed. (1975). Yermak’s Campaign in Siberia: A Selection of Documents, tr. Tatiana Minorsky and David Wileman. London: Hakluyt Society. Perrie, Maureen. (1997). “Outlawry (Vorovstvo) and Redemption through Service: Ermak and the Volga Cossacks.” In Culture and Identity in Muscovy, 1359-1584, ed. A. M. Kleimola and G. D. Lenhoff. Moscow: ITZ-Garant. Skrynnikov, R. G. (1986). “Ermak’s Siberian Expedition.” Russian History / Histoire Russe 13:1-39.

MAUREEN PERRIE

YERMAK TIMOFEYEVICH