Boris Yeltsin: The Decade that Shook the World by Boris Minaev

Author:Boris Minaev [Minaev, Boris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Glagoslav Publications

Yeltsin was convinced that a new powerful Russia was growing from within the old Soviet country. And it was this Russia, and not just some wobbly administrative construction, that was the future: a class of new owners — entrepreneurs. People who would not be prepared to give up their newly acquired right to make money or their right to private ownership.

There exists a wonderful anecdote about Brezhnev. His assistants asked him why the minimal wage incorporated into the Party’s economic programme was so low: an ordinary person would never make ends meet with a salary like that. ‘You know little of how ordinary people live,’ Brezhnev answered and raised his eyebrows. ‘Two sacks of potatoes may go to the state but one sack stays. They will unavoidably steal something in any case.’ Seemingly, the anecdote illustrates the ruler’s wisdom. The ruler must not interfere and let Russian life follow its own course in accordance with its specific laws and traditions. But Yeltsin was a different type of ruler. He saw it as his duty to prevent the theft of this sack of potatoes. He had to make sure that somebody planted these potatoes, somebody else would buy them, yet another person would buy the product, so that both the seller and the buyer were happy…

But for now he was under constant pressure; he read innumerable analytical memos. People were seeking his audience. Assistants, aides, representatives of movements and deputies were constantly in and out of his office. Everyone was trying to ‘influence’ him. The overall impression of this year was that he was losing his taste for political debates and conversations. He was reading piles of those documents, thinking things over, keeping his silence.

But in his spare time he interacted with his new ‘private circle’. He always valued a ‘small team’ more than a big official one.

‘How open was he in this social sphere?’ I ask of Yeltsin’s daughter Tatyana.

‘I don’t know. I believe no one ever knew Dad completely.’

Yeltsin’s ‘private circle’ in 1992 consisted of his Head of Administration, Yuri Petrov (his colleague from the Sverdlovsk Obkom ), Siloviki ministers: Viktor Yerin (Minister of the Interior) and Pavel Grachev (Minister for Defence). Also, there were two more people present who belonged there not just out of duty, although they did deal with his security: Mikhail Barsukov and Alexander Korzhakov. Some new names emerged with time. Gradually, the circle was joined by his literary assistant Valentin Yumashev and a famous tennis player and coach Shamil Tarpishchev. This was understandable since there was a new passion in Yeltsin’s life — tennis.

It all started in Jūrmala when, in 1988-1989, Shamil Tarpishchev first suggested to Yeltsin to pick up a racket. Upon his return to Moscow, Yeltsin started training regularly. First at the tennis court in Luzhniki although later he discovered some other courts, somewhat more secluded and out of sight of Moscow’s gaping public.

His partners in those years were a variety of people; however, most often his partner was Shamil Tarpishchev. Usually,

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