Transcript Fall of the Soviet Union Effects of an Independent Media The CPSU no longer controlled the media  The media began to.

Fall of the Soviet Union
Effects of an Independent Media
The CPSU no longer controlled the media
 The media began to expose severe social and
economic problems the Soviet government had
long denied and actively concealed:
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Poor housing
Alcoholism & drug abuse
Pollution
Outdated Stalin era factories
Wide spread corruption
Crimes committed by Stalin and the Soviet regime –
gulags
– The ongoing war in Afghanistan
– Mishandling of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster
Break-up of the USSR

Throughout 1990 the 15 republics began having
independent elections
– Yeltsin elected President of Russia in June 1991
Independence came first in the Baltics
 Gorby was set to sign a treaty turning the USSR
into a federation of independent republics with a
common president, foreign policy and military.
 A coup of his own leadership had him arrested
 Popular support of this coup was limited

The break up (cont)

Boris Yeltsin gained popularity by condemning
the coup against Gorby
– Yeltsin elected as president as a result
The coup collapsed after 3 days
 Yeltsin issued a decree condemning the CPSU
 December 8, 1991 – CIS is agreed upon by
Russia, Belarus, & Ukraine
 On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned as
president of the USSR

– declaring the office extinct
– ceding all the powers still vested in it to the president
of Russia: Yeltsin
Creation of the CIS

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12 of the 15 FSR join
between 1991 – 2000
Turkmenistan withdrew its
membership in 2005, but
remains an associate
member
Loose confederation
Cooperate on matters of
– economics
– defense
– foreign policy
Boris Yeltsin
Not exactly democratic (he was the president
and Prime Minister)
 Economy got worse (hyperinflation) and
poverty increased
 Coup attempts try to get rid of him

– Rise of communist opposition parties
He had his opponents who were gathered in
the Parliament building fired on by Russian
tanks
 Dec. 1994 – he orders the invasion of the
break away province of Chechnya

Reelected in 1996 – barely winning a run
off with the Communist opposition leader
 Opposed NATO intervention in Yugoslavia;
he and the Americans also disagreed on
the Chechen issue
 Resigned at the end of 1999; allegations
of alcoholism & poor health
 Yeltsin chose his successor as Vladimir
Putin

Vladimir Putin
KGB agent during Soviet era
 Prime Minister & Acting President (Aug.
1999 – May 2000)
 Elected President in May 2000 and
reelected in 2004
 Has enjoyed improving economic conditions
and improved political stability in Russia
(Time’s Person of the Year ’07)
 Very wealthy – mainly from ownership in oil
companies
 Putin has made Russia very powerful once
again with his consolidation of Russia’s oil
resources

Began limiting democratic freedoms in the name
of combating terrorism
 14 journalists, who have been critical of Putin’s
government, have died under questionable
circumstances
 In 2007, he cracked down on civil society and
freedom of assembly
 According to the constitution, the Russian
president can only serve two consecutive terms

– Putin cannot run in 2008, but he could in 2012
Dmitry Medvedev has been chosen as
Putin’s successor for the United Russia
Party
 Medvedev, who will win the 08 election,
nominated Putin for Prime Minister
 Putin has pledged not to change the
distribution of authority between president
and PM

– many analysts are expecting a shift in the
center of power from the presidency to the
prime minister post should Putin assume the
role of PM under a Medvedev presidency
Dmitry Medvedev
Elected March 2008
 Received 70% of vote
 Seen as Putin’s puppet
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