© 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.

TABLE 8.1. Basic Political Characteristics of the Brezhnev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin Periods

Brezhnev (in 1975) Gorbachev (in 1989) Yeltsin (in 1995) Putin (in 2004)

Head of the country Secretary- general President of the U.S.S.R.

President of the Russian Federation

President of the Russian Federation

Head of government Chairman of the Supreme Soviet

Prime minister Prime minister Prime minister

Parliament Supreme Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies

Federation Council and Duma

Federation Council and Duma

Number of parties in parliament

One One (later a few) Five or six Three or four

Regional governors First secretary (appointed)

Appointed (later elected)

Elected governors Appointed governors

Freedom of press No Limited freedom Free Limited freedom

Independent TV No No Yes No

Freedom of religion No Limited Yes Yes, except for some new religious movements

Wars/conflicts Afghanistan End of Afghanistan, Karabakh, Trans- Dniester Republic

Chechnya I Chechnya II

Defense alliances Warsaw Pact CIS CIS + NATO partnership

CIS + NATO partnership

Private economy 0% 5% 20% 75%

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TABLE 8.2. General Timeline of the Post- Soviet Reforms in Russia

Dates Main events

1985 Gorbachev elected secretary- general of C.P.S.U.

1985–1986 His ill-fated antialcohol campaign.

April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in northern Ukraine.

1987 Beginning of perestroika and glasnost.

Dec. 1988 First multicandidate elections to the Soviet Parliament.

1988–1990 Rising nationalism in the Baltics, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova.

June 1991 Ex- Communist Yeltsin elected first president of the R.S.F.S.R.

Aug. 1991 Hardliners’ 3-day coup.

Dec. 1991 U.S.S.R. dissolved; Gorbachev resigns; Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) formed with 12 of the 15 former republics as members (the Baltics do not join).

Jan. 1992 Liberalization of prices; inflation close to 1,000% by year’s end.

Sept. 1992 First voucher auction.

Dec. 1992 Reformer Gaidar resigns as the prime minister; “gas man” Chernomyrdin takes office.

Oct. 1993 Parliamentary crisis in Moscow; Yeltsin sends in tanks.

Dec. 1993 New constitution gives the president sweeping powers; Duma elected.

July 1994 Voucher investment scam collapses; millions lose savings.

Dec. 1994 First war in Chechnya begins.(cont.)

© 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.

TABLE 8.2. (cont.)

Dates Main events

Mar. 1995 Loans-for- shares scheme proposed by Potanin, Khodorkovsky, Smolensky.

Dec. 1995 Communists do very well in Duma elections.

Feb. 1996 Oligarchs meet in Davos with members of Yeltsin’s circle; they promise political support before upcoming elections.

May 1996 Chechen rebels take hostages at the Budenovsk hospital; a cease-fire is declared between Chechen and Russian forces.

June 1996 Yeltsin wins first round of presidential election; he sacks his long-time bodyguard and friend, Korzhakov, at the oligarchs’ instigation.

July 1996 Yeltsin suffers a massive heart attack, but defeats Zyuganov in the second round of presidential elections.

Fall 1996 Yeltsin undergoes open-heart surgery; some oligarchs occupy various government positions.

1997 Russian emergent economy is rattled by the spreading Asian currency crisis; inflation runs about 20% per year.

Mar. 1998 Chernomyrdin is sacked as prime minister and replaced by young, inexperienced Kiriyenko.

May 1998 Russian stock market crashes; Chubais and others plead for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

July 1998 IMF approves a $22 billion loan for Russia as a bailout; $4.8 billion is disbursed.

Aug. 1998 Partial default: Ruble is devalued; default on GKO bond payments; temporary moratorium on foreign debts of Russian companies is announced; Kiriyenko is sacked.

Fall 1998 Primakov comes in as new prime minister, stabilizes situation, and scares oligarchs with promises to put many in jail.

May 1999 Primakov is dismissed; Stepashin is appointed as transitional prime minister; search for a successor for Yeltsin quietly goes on.

Aug. 1999 Putin appointed as prime minister and declared heir apparent by the media.

Sept. 1999 Bombs explode in a few Russian cities; Chechens are blamed (although some evidence indicates that the Federal Security Service is at least complicit), and a new round of war in Chechnya begins.

Dec. 1999 Yeltsin steps down; Putin becomes acting president.

Mar. 2000 Putin elected second president of Russian Federation.

2000 Kasyanov is appointed prime minister; members of Yeltsin’s government are being gradually replaced with personal acquaintances of Putin.

2001–2002 Growing state control over media: NTV and ORT TV channels are turned over to companies loyal to the Kremlin; their owners, Gusinsky and Berezovsky, flee the country.

2001–2002 Tax code is streamlined, and a flat tax of 13% is introduced. Seven federal districts are proposed for the country, with each having a personal presidential representative (vertical structure of power).

Oct. 2003 Richest man in Russia, Khodorkovsky, is put in jail on corruption charges.

Dec. 2003 Pro-Putin “United Russia” party wins an overwhelming majority of seats in Duma.

Mar. 2004 Putin easily wins reelection; Fradkov is appointed prime minister.

Mar. 2008 Medvedev is elected president; Putin becomes prime minister.

© 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.

FIGURE 8.1. A store in a Siberian village today looks still much the same as it did during the late Soviet era, 20 years ago. Prices are now much higher, but there are many more goods on the shelves. The scale on the right is still the old Soviet model. Photo: A. Fristad.

© 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.

Russian Federation

National territorial units State territorial units

Autonomous republics—21 (e.g., Tatarstan, Komi,

Buryat)

Autonomous okrugs—10 (e.g., Nenets, Chukotka)

Autonomous oblast—1 (Jewish)

Krays—6 (e.g., Stavropolsky,

Krasnoyarsky)

Oblasts—49 (e.g., Tula, Perm, Irkutsk)

Federal cities—2 (Moscow and St. Petersburg)

FIGURE 8.2. Russian Federation administrative units according to the first post- Soviet (1993) constitution (89 units). Since 2000, a few autonomous okrugs have been merged with nearby oblasts or krays (see Vignette 8.2).

© 2011 by The Guilford Press. All rights reserved.

Zabaykalsky Kray

Buryatiya Republic

Irkutsk Oblast

1

2

Magadan Oblast

Chukotsky AOk

Sakha Republic (Yakutiya)

Kamchatsky Kray

Nenetsky AOk

Khanty-Mansi AOk

Tyumen Oblast

Yamal-Nenets AOk

Sakhalin Oblast

Evreyskaya AOb (Jewish)

Khabarovsk Kray

Amur Oblast

Primorsky Kray

1 - Murmansk Oblast2 - Kareliyan Republic3 - Pskov Oblast 4 - Leningrad Oblast 5 - Novgorod Oblast6 - Smolensk Oblast 7 - Tver Oblast8 - Yaroslavl Oblast9 - Vologda Oblast10 - Bryansk Oblast11 - Kaluga Oblast 12 - Moscow Oblast13 - Vladimir Oblast14 - Ivanovo Oblast

3 45

6 7

89

10 1112

13 1415

16 1718

19 2021

2224

2526

Omsk Oblast

Novosibirsk Oblast

Tyva Republic

Altaysky Kray

Altay Republic

Krasnoyarsky Kray

Tomsk Oblast

Arkhangelsk Oblast

City of St. PetersburgKaliningradOblast

Komi Republic

City of Moscow

Permsky Kray

Sverdlovsk Oblast

27 28

Kirov Oblast

29 30

31

32

33

34 3536 37

38

3940 41

4243

4445 46

47

48 4950

51

5215 - Kostroma Oblast16 - Kursk Oblast 17 - Orel Oblast18 - Tula Oblast 19 - Ryazan Oblast20 - Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast 21 - Belgorod Oblast22 - Voronezh Oblast23 - Lipetsk Oblast24 - Tambov Oblast 25 - Penza Oblast26 - Mordoviya Republic 27 - Chuvashiya Republic 28 - Mariy El Republic

29 - Ulyanovsk Oblast 30 - Tatarstan Republic 31 - Udmurtiya Republic 32 - Krasnodarsky Kray 33 - Adygeya Republic 34 - Rostov Oblast

35 - Volgograd Oblast 36 - Saratov Oblast 37 - Samara Oblast 38 - Orenburg Oblast 39 - Bashkortostan Republic 40 - Chelyabinsk Oblast

41 - Kurgan Oblast 42 - Karachaevo-Cherkesskaya Republic43 - Kabardino-Balkarskaya Republic44 - North Ossetiya Republic45 - Ingushetiya Republic 46 - Chechen Republic

47 - Dagestan Republic 48 - Stavropolsky Kray49 - Kalmykiya Republic50 - Astrakhan Oblast51 - Kemerovo Oblast52 - Khakasiya Republic

23

Urals

Siberia

Far East

Northwest

Central

SouthVolga

FIGURE 8.3. The 83 “subjects of federation” (internal units) in Russia in 2010. AOb, autonomous oblast; AOk, autonomous okrug.

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CPRF

LDPR

OHR/UR

Yabloko

Agrarian

Other

CPRF

UR

URF

LDPR

Yabloko

Other

UR

CPRF

LDPR

JR

1995

1999

2007

FIGURE 8.4. Composition of the Duma of the Russian Federation after parliamentary elections in 1995, 1999, and 2007. CPRF, Communist Party of the Russian Federation; LDPR, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (nationalist leanings); OHR/UR, Our House Russia/United Russia (Our House Russia was a pro- Yeltsin party, which was later merged with others to create United Russia, the present-day pro-Putin party); Yabloko, a democratic, pro- Western party popular with the intelligentsia; URF, Union of Right Forces; JR, Just Russia (another pro- Kremlin party that was formed in 2006 to present a more socialist- leaning alternative to United Russia).

TABLE 8.3. Internal Units of Russian Federation During the Times of Yeltsin and Putin

Unit Economic region Federal presidential district (2000)

Belgorod Oblast Chernozemny CentralBryansk Oblast Central CentralVladimir Oblast Central CentralVoronezh Oblast Chernozemny CentralIvanovo Oblast Central CentralKaluga Oblast Central CentralKostroma Oblast Central Central

Kursk Oblast Chernozemny Central

Lipetsk Oblast Chernozemny Central

Moscow Oblast Central Central

Orel Oblast Central Central

Ryazan Oblast Central Central

Smolensk Oblast Central Central

Tambov Oblast Chernozemny Central

Tver Oblast Central Central

Tula Oblast Central Central

Yaroslavl Oblast Central Central

City of Moscow Central Central

Kareliyan Republic North NorthwestKomi Republic North NorthwestArkhangelsk Oblast North NorthwestNenetsky Autonomous Okrug North NorthwestVologda Oblast North NorthwestKaliningrad Oblast Northwest NorthwestLeningrad Oblast Northwest Northwest

Murmansk Oblast North Northwest

Novgorod Oblast Northwest Northwest

Pskov Oblast Northwest Northwest

City of St. Petersburg Northwest Northwest

Adygeya Republic Caucasus SouthDagestan Republic Caucasus SouthIngushetiya Republic Caucasus SouthKabardino- Balkariya Republic Caucasus SouthKalmykiya Republic Povolzhye SouthKarachaevo- Cherkessiya Republic Caucasus SouthNorth Ossetiya Republic Caucasus South

Chechen Republic Caucasus South

Krasnodarsky Kray Caucasus South

Stavropolsky Kray Caucasus South

Astrakhan Oblast Povolzhye South

Volgograd Oblast Povolzhye South

Rostov Oblast Caucasus South(cont.)

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TABLE 8.3. (cont.)

Unit Economic region Federal presidential district (2000)

Bashkortostan Republic Urals VolgaMariy El Republic Volga- Vyatka VolgaMordoviya Republic Volga- Vyatka VolgaTatarstan Republic Povolzhye VolgaUdmurtiya Republic Urals VolgaChuvashiya Republic Volga- Vyatka VolgaPermsky Kray Urals VolgaKirov Oblast Volga- Vyatka VolgaNizhniy Novgorod Oblast Volga- Vyatka VolgaOrenburg Oblast Urals Volga

Penza Oblast Povolzhye Volga

Samara Oblast Povolzhye Volga

Saratov Oblast Povolzhye Volga

Ulyanovsk Oblast Povolzhye Volga

Kurgan Oblast Urals UralsSverdlovsk Oblast Urals UralsTyumen Oblast West Siberia UralsKhanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug West Siberia UralsYamal- Nenets Autonomous Okrug West Siberia UralsChelyabinsk Oblast Urals Urals

Altay Republic West Siberia SiberiaBuryatiya Republic Central Siberia SiberiaTyva Republic Central Siberia SiberiaKhakasiya Republic Central Siberia SiberiaAltaysky Kray West Siberia SiberiaKrasnoyarsky Kray Central Siberia SiberiaIrkutsk Oblast Central Siberia Siberia

Kemerovo Oblast West Siberia Siberia

Novosibirsk Oblast West Siberia Siberia

Omsk Oblast West Siberia Siberia

Tomsk Oblast West Siberia Siberia

Zabaykalsky Kray Central Siberia Siberia

Sakha (Yakutiya) Republic Far East Far EastPrimorsky Kray Far East Far EastKhabarovsk Kray Far East Far EastAmur Oblast Far East Far EastKamchatsky Kray Far East Far EastMagadan Oblast Far East Far EastSakhalin Oblast Far East Far East

Evreyskaya Autonomous Oblast Far East Far EastChukotsky Autonomous Okrug Far East Far East

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