What is the Russian people's opinion of Yeltsin?

[s_sutherland]

I was just wondering what the Russians think of Yeltsin. I know he came to be regarded as a drunken fool but i mean his whole term of presidency rather than his last few years.
My girlfriend is a Russian from Tashkent and she doesn't think very highly of him. Also what about Putin??!!
Thanks for any replies!!

[redfella]

Man, I am sorry I don't know your name. Well, I personally think of Yeltsin as a good guy, no matter what rumours were about. I tend to trust more things politicians do rather than all other personal stuff. At the end of the day he was the guy who manged to smash communism and turn Russia into democracy. Not many appreciate this fact now days, people tend to forget good things and commonly remember all the bad stuff, no matter what politician you take. I think we, Russians should pay a great deal of respect to this old man, because he is the MAN. He was the very first Russian ruler to resign by his will and not by force in years. He also should be guaranteed a place in the upper house of parliament, this would be a very essential example to the future generation of Russians of how to preserve democratic values and not turn barbarian for God's sake.
One last point, as I understood you have a Russian girlfriend. Just ask her a question what would she be doing now if say Yeltsin did not manage to end the Soviet Union. Enjoying her uni time in Leeds? I doubt it. Probably somethere in Tashkent or Moscow as the best outcome. I am a student as well, I have lived in UK for 3 years before moving to Montreal ( McGill University ). For such a great opportunity to discover the world I think we should be grateful to Mr. Yeltsin in some sense. I guess that will be it.

Man, please do not hesitate to write to me if you have any comments or would like to discuss some other topics. I would be glad to answer.

Sincerely
Artour F. Safiouline

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butch

[Mihail]

Well, Yeltsin is alot better then Putin is for sure, Yeltsin did not do anything bad/good. But Putin... heh, he will do alot of harm to everybody.

Greetings Mihail and redfellow,
Allow me to make my comments on the subject.
To me the real HERO is Michail Gorbachev. It was he who started the trend towards freedom
and Democracy. To me he would have been better for Russia and the World. To me Boris
Yeltsin is a Drunken Reactionary Bandit, who
Bankrupted Russia and allowed the foreign
Companies to Plunder the wealth of Russia.
When he came to power Russia was DEBT FREE.
Now, - Russia owes hundreds of Billions
of Dollars, without anything to show for it.
All the money is sitting in foreign banks,
under the control of Borris the Drunk. The
twenty million people who died in the Great
Patriotic War, did not die for this. Borris
the Drunk, was selected, installed and kept
in power by President George Bush and U.S.A
interest. Look around you. Your country is being stolen out from under you.
Now you know.

[Kremlin]

Yes, Gorbachov was the hero.He strated the Perestroika, which was the elemental step to democracy. Yeltsin couldn´t had made something so great. He was an oportunist. Millions of Russians live in poverty and Russia has a big economical problem due to him. He made a mafia of the presidential circle. He was hospitalized most of his period. Also he thougt than printing a lot of money was the solution. An idiot architect who didn´t knew about the elemental economy and political subjects. Also he didn´t end the cold war against USA. There were a lot of disident ideas with USA. Gorbachev started the nuclear disarm, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize (he deserved it). He was whom realy DESTROYED Berlin´s wall and all of the corrupt walls of the communsism. Yeltsin did Chechnya´s war. He sold Russia. DAMN BORIS THE DRUNK, HOPE WE SEE YOU IN HELL! (from the heaven, he he..)

[ania]

If you want my opinion about Yeltsin, i think that he had played a very significant role in the history of modern Russia. Though he was not quite good in his politics at the end, nevertheless he deserves being respected.
Besides, it was a rather wise decision to resign few months ago. He made the best he could do and i think it's not very reasonable to blame him for all problems in post-soviet Russia; a hard path of reorganizing our messed-up country was inevitable.

[Kremlin]

You can´t say so, cuase the way of reorganization of Gorbachev was slower but better for russian people. Yeltsin dissolved USSR in a bad moment. Maybe Yeltsin couldn´t be judged and even elogiated if Gorbachev hasn´t existed, but Oh, what a surprise, Yeltsin, as we know it, could have been impossible without Gorbachev