Russia 110201 Basic Political Developments

Yeltsin: epitome of 1990s Russia remembered

http://rt.com/news/yeltsin-legacy-memorial-monument/print/

Published: 1 February, 2011, 09:58

Edited: 1 February, 2011, 11:10

Russia is marking the 80th birthday of the man who took Perestroika to another level when the Soviet Union dissolved - Boris Yeltsin.

Four years after his death, the first President of Russia is remembered for his reforms, free market aspirations and privatization policies.

Yeltsin’s 80th birthday is being celebrated with much greater pomp than his 70th – a whole series of events are planned throughout the country: rock concerts, a tennis [Yeltsin’s favorite game] tournament for children to name just a few.

Certainly the main event is Tuesday’s unveiling of a white marble obelisk dedicate to him in Ekaterinburg where he lived for most of his life. It was in Ekaterinburg that he gained a university degree and got married. He advanced through the Communist Party ranks up to the very top.

The only other Yeltsin monument is on his grave at Novodevichy cemetery.

A Boris Yeltsin memorial center has also been opened – a tradition borrowed from the US, where there is a wide net of presidential libraries dedicated to the legacies of former presidents. The Yeltsin center will be dedicated to the promotion of civil society and human rights.

Boris Yeltsin will always remain a very polarizing figure for Russian society. He is generally credited for bringing democracy to Russia. Both of his successors, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev commended him for making Russian democracy irreversible.

He was also known for overseeing a major transition of the world’s largest command economy into a free market but all of his reforms came at a very high price for Russia.

During his rule, Russia’s external debt increased by 60 per cent and the suicide rate increased by 70 per cent. For most Russia’s citizens the transition period turned into a nightmare. Yeltsin is blamed for not preventing the collapse of the Soviet Union, something that the overwhelming majority of citizens were against and voted against during a specially organized referendum. For most people the blow of the reforms was too hard and Yeltsin was blamed for not softening it.

The latest polls suggest that as time goes by Russians tend to forget the bad and are growing a little bit more sympathetic for the first Russian president.

According to the Levada-center, an independent polling organization, the number of those who viewed Yeltsin’s legacy in a negative light has decreased from some 60 per cent in 2000 to 35 per cent in 2011, while the percentage of positive opinions about his reforms has correspondingly grown.

The current President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, attended the monument’s unveiling ceremony and will be presiding during a meeting of a council dedicated to civil society and human rights.

Boris Yeltsin himself never doubted he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday but instead his widow has to fight back tears while opening an exhibition timed to what would have been his 80th birthday.

In nearly four years since Boris Yeltsin's death, the agony of loss has given way to quiet remembrance.

“He really liked family gatherings, birthdays. We usually celebrated with our daughters,” remembers the first president’s widow Naina Yeltsina.

Most of the photos exhibited at a photographic exhibition coinciding with the anniversary show Yeltsin in his early years in power when he had the backing of almost the entire country. When voicing your political position was still an act of novelty and courage and when hopes of a different life in a better country were still untainted by the harsh reality.

The war in Chechnya, which Yeltsin himself admitted was a mistake, the banking crisis that would cripple the already impoverished population – all that would come later. And as some argue, would unfairly obscure all the good that Yeltsin had done.

Yeltsin's press secretary Sergey Yastrzhembsky believes that “Anything large is better perceived from a distance, especially in history. I think we still need more time for the emotions and trifles to give way to serious analysis of what a titanic figure Yeltsin really was.”

Vladimir Shevchenko served as his head of protocol for more than eight years.

And while Yeltsin's explosive character and unpredictable temperament often contravened the dry rules of diplomatic engagement, Vladimir says he had never had a better boss.

“He never thwarted a single event and he was never late. But emotionally he could be absolutely unpredictable and do what no one expected him to do like his famous conducting of an orchestra, for example,” Vladimir Shevchenko, head of Yeltsin's protocol, remembers. “And again, he was overwhelmed by emotions. He turned his head and saw that Shevchenko was the only one who was objecting and dragging him away. All the other people around him were applauding.”

He was ushered into power by the great hopes of his people and left office full of regret for not fulfilling all of them. And it was only after Yeltsin passed away that his country could start to examine his legacy in all its complexity.

Boris Yeltsin's 70th birthday was celebrated with far fewer accolades. But one decade later even those who used to criticize him very harshly are growing a bit more gracious in their assessment of his character and his policies because even they have also come to realize that, with all his ups and downs, Yeltsin was the very epitome of Russia in the 1990s.

Medvedev urges to develop non-profit organizations helping kids

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=15910465&PageNum=0

01.02.2011, 10.28

YEKATERINBURG, February 1 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev considers it right to develop non-profit organizations, which help children in Russia. “The principles of these activities are not generally recognized in our country, but it is a very good work,” the president said during a visit to the Pelican educational non-profit organization on Tuesday.

At this former kindergarten the kids from one to seven years old study several times a week. These children got in trouble or have some disabilities. Social adaptation classes and gym trainings are held for elder children at the Pelican educational center. The parents and guardians of children do not pay for their studies and the educational center is funded from donations of other organizations and people.

The president also gave the assistance to the Pelican center. Medvedev presented to Pelican Director Zoya Glukhikh a certificate for the equipment in the so-called sensor psychological aid room. “I hope that this room will help someone,” the president noted.

Medvedev thanked educators and assistants of the educational center that “are doing a very important business.” “This is what we call the civil society,” the president said with confidence.

Zoya Glukhikh said that the Pelican center had been working already for 14 years and helps various children with heavy diseases and those who were exposed to violence from their agemates and from socially unfavorable and incomplete families. “All children are different, but our task is to prepare them for the adult life so that their disabilities would not be exposed,” she pointed out. The director also emphasized that the Pelican center is planning to launch a new project based on the experience of the French city of Marseille in order to arrange late evening studies so that “teenagers were not going idle in the street.” “To attract them here you should offer something very interesting,” Medvedev recommended. Glukhikh pledged that children will be interested in judo and tennis training and “in just interesting talking.”

The president attended the studies of several groups of children. Primary school pupils were listening to a story about three Russian fairytale knights, three-year-old kids “were building” the toy railway, while their agemates were assembling airplanes from geometric pieces. The children were so engaged in their studies so that they did not distract from their studies for a visit of the high-ranking guest. “People are sitting, working and are not giving attention to me. Good fellows, it should be this way!” the president praised the children.