CPSU membership
108-520: CPSU membership Elections First term Second term Post-Presidency [REDACTED] Media gallery Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as the president of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as
216-690: A political independent , during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism . Yeltsin was born in Butka , Ural Oblast . He would grow up in Kazan and Berezniki . He worked in construction after studying at the Ural State Technical University . After joining the Communist Party, he rose through its ranks, and in 1976, he became First Secretary of the party's Sverdlovsk Oblast committee. Yeltsin
324-649: A November 1992 ceremony in Budapest, apologized for the 1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary and handed over to president Árpád Göncz documents from the Communist Party and KGB archives related to the intervention. A treaty of friendship was signed in May 1992 with Lech Wałęsa 's Poland, and then another one in August 1992 with Zhelyu Zhelev 's Bulgaria. On 2 January 1992, Yeltsin, acting as his own prime minister , ordered
432-678: A candidate (non-voting) member of the Politburo . At that point he formally left the Secretariat to concentrate on his role in Moscow. Over the coming year he removed many of the old secretaries of the gorkom, replacing them with younger individuals, particularly with backgrounds in factory management. In August 1986, Yeltsin gave a two-hour report to the party conference in which he talked about Moscow's problems, including issues that had previously not been spoken about publicly. Gorbachev described
540-531: A circus, the refurbishment of its 1912 opera house, and youth housing projects to build new homes for young families. In September 1977, Yeltsin carried out orders to demolish the Ipatiev House , the location where the Romanov royal family had been killed in 1918, over the government's fears that it was attracting growing foreign and domestic attention. He was also responsible for punishing those living in
648-651: A crime against our people by making their standard of living so incomparably lower than that of the Americans." An aide, Lev Sukhanov, was reported to have said that it was at that moment that "the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed" inside his boss. In his autobiography, Against the Grain: An Autobiography , written and published in 1990, Yeltsin hinted in a small passage that after his tour, he made plans to open his line of grocery stores and planned to fill it with government-subsidized goods to alleviate
756-429: A deep credit crunch shut down many industries and brought about a protracted depression. The reforms devastated the living standards of much of the population, especially the groups dependent on Soviet-era state subsidies and welfare programs. Through the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50%, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, whilst incomes fell. Hyperinflation , caused by
864-719: A five-room apartment at the Working Youth Embankment in Sverdlovsk. In February 1981, Yeltsin gave a speech to the 26th CPSU Congress and on the final day of the Congress was selected to join the Communist Party Central Committee. Yeltsin's reports to party meetings reflected the ideological conformity that was expected within the authoritarian state. Yeltsin played along with the personality cult surrounding Brezhnev, but he
972-407: A lack of motivation among construction workers, an irregular supply of materials, and the regular theft or vandalism of available materials. He soon imposed fines for those who damaged or stole materials or engaged in absenteeism, and closely monitored productivity. His work on the construction of a textile factory, for which he oversaw 1000 workers, brought him wider recognition. In June 1958 he became
1080-447: A major obstacle to effective enforcement, as violators often attempt to covertly circumvent the terms of the agreements. Verification is the process of determining whether or not a nation is complying with the terms of an agreement, and involves a combination of release of such information by participants as well as some way to allow participants to examine each other to verify that information. This often involves as much negotiation as
1188-723: A major world power. Boris Yeltsin was born on 1st February 1931 in the village of Butka, Talitsky District , Sverdlovsk Oblast , then in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, one of the republics of the Soviet Union . His family, who were ethnic Russians, had lived in this area of the Urals since at least the eighteenth century. His father, Nikolai Yeltsin, had married his mother, Klavdiya Vasilyevna Starygina, in 1928. Yeltsin always remained closer to his mother than to his father;
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#17327830112151296-539: A nation or group of nations to enforce limitations upon a non-consenting country. Arms control treaties and agreements are often seen as a way to avoid costly arms races which could prove counter-productive to national aims and future peace. Some are used as ways to stop the spread of certain military technologies (such as nuclear weaponry or missile technology) in return for assurances to potential developers that they will not be victims of those technologies. Additionally, some arms control agreements are entered to limit
1404-535: A peace-without-weapons-stance. Nevertheless, arms control is a defensive strategy in principle, since transparency , equality, and stability do not fit into an offensive strategy. According to a 2020 study in the American Political Science Review , arms control is rare because successful arms control agreements involve a difficult trade-off between transparency and security. For arms control agreements to be effective, there needs to be
1512-564: A prosperous farmer, Yeltsin's paternal grandfather, Ignatii, was accused of being a kulak in 1930. His farm, which was in Basmanovo (also known as Basmanovskoye), was confiscated, and he and his family were forced to reside in a cottage in nearby Butka. There, Nikolai and Ignatii's other children were allowed to join the local kolkhoz ( collective farm ), but Ignatii himself was not; he and his wife, Anna, were exiled in 1934 to Nadezhdinsk , where he died two years later. As an infant, Yeltsin
1620-563: A rapid approach and those favoring a gradual or slower approach. On January 1, 1992, Yeltsin signed accords with U.S. President George H. W. Bush , declaring the Cold War officially over after nearly 47 years. A visit to Moscow from Havel in April 1992 occasioned the written repudiation of the Soviet intervention and the withdrawal of armed forces from Czechoslovakia. Yeltsin laid a wreath during
1728-605: A recent movement to regulate the sale and trading of conventional weapons. As of December 2014, the United Nations is preparing for entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty , which has been ratified by 89 nations. However, it is currently missing ratification by key arms producers such as Russia and China, and while the United States has signed the treaty it has not yet ratified it. The Treaty regulates
1836-581: A senior work superintendent ( starshii prorab ) and in January 1960 was made head engineer ( glavni inzhener ) of Construction Directorate Number 13. At the same time, Yeltsin's family was growing; in September 1956, he married Girina. She soon got work at a scientific research institute, where she remained for 29 years. In August 1957, their daughter Yelena was born, followed by a second daughter, Tatyana, in January 1960. During this period, they moved through
1944-582: A succession of apartments. On family holidays, Yeltsin took his family to a lake in northern Russia and the Black Sea coast. In March 1960, Yeltsin became a probationary member of the governing Communist Party and a full member in March 1961. In his later autobiography, he stated that his original reasons for joining were "sincere" and rooted in a genuine belief in the party's socialist ideals. In other interviews he instead stated that he joined because membership
2052-683: A third child, Valentina. Between 1939 and 1945, Yeltsin received a primary education at Berezniki's Railway School Number 95. Academically, he did well at primary school and was repeatedly elected class monitor by fellow pupils. There, he also took part in activities organized by the Komsomol and Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization . This overlapped with Soviet involvement in the Second World War , during which Yeltsin's paternal uncle, Andrian, served in
2160-553: A tripartite scheme for reforming the Soviet Union that would involve strengthening the Russian government, but it was never presented publicly. By 1980, Yeltsin had developed the habit of appearing unannounced in factories, shops, and public transport to get a closer look at the realities of Soviet life. In May 1981, he held a question-and-answer session with college students at the Sverdlovsk Youth Palace, where he
2268-420: A way of maintaining the viability of military action by limiting those weapons that would make war so costly and destructive as to make it no longer a viable tool for national policy. Enforcement of arms control agreements has proven difficult over time. Most agreements rely on the continued desire of the participants to abide by the terms to remain effective. Usually, when a nation no longer desires to abide by
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#17327830112152376-403: A way to thoroughly verify that a state is following the agreement, such as through intrusive inspections. However, states are often reluctant to submit to such inspections when they have reasons to fear that the inspectors will use the inspections to gather information about the capabilities of the state, which could be used in a future conflict. One of the first recorded attempts in arms control
2484-515: Is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms , conventional weapons , and weapons of mass destruction . Historically, arms control may apply to melee weapons (such as swords) before the invention of firearm . Arms control is typically exercised through the use of diplomacy which seeks to impose such limitations upon consenting participants through international treaties and agreements, although it may also comprise efforts by
2592-490: Is seen in a bad light politically and can carry diplomatic repercussions. Additionally, if one remains in an agreement, competitors who are also participatory may be held to the limitations of the terms, while withdrawal releases your opponents to make the same developments you are making, limiting the advantage of that development. Scholars and practitioners such as John D. Steinbruner , Thomas Schelling , Morton Halperin , Jonathan Dean or Stuart Croft worked extensively on
2700-491: The Belavezha Accords , the three presidents declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality", and announced the formation of a voluntary Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. On 17 December, in a meeting with Yeltsin, Gorbachev accepted the fait accompli and agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union . On 24 December, by mutual agreement of
2808-602: The Central Bank of Russia 's loose monetary policy, wiped out many people's personal savings, and tens of millions of Russians were plunged into poverty. Some economists argue that in the 1990s, Russia suffered an economic downturn more severe than the United States or Germany had undergone six decades earlier in the Great Depression . Russian commentators and even some Western economists, such as Marshall Goldman , widely blamed Yeltsin's economic programme for
2916-568: The Dmitrov labor camp. Yeltsin and his mother then were ejected from their residence and were taken in by friends; Klavdiya worked at a garment factory in her husband's absence. In October 1936, Nikolai returned; in July 1937, the couple's second child, Mikhail, was born. That month, they moved to Berezniki , in Perm Krai , where Nikolai got work on a potash combine project. In July 1944, they had
3024-588: The Red Army and was killed. From 1945 to 1949, Yeltsin studied at the municipal secondary school number 1, also known as Pushkin High School . Yeltsin did well at secondary school, and there took an increasing interest in sports, becoming captain of the school's volleyball squad. He enjoyed playing pranks and in one instance playing with a grenade, which blew off the thumb and index finger of his left hand. With friends, he would go on summer walking expeditions in
3132-661: The State Committee for Construction . At the next meeting of the Central Committee on 24 February 1988, Yeltsin was removed from his position as a Candidate member of the Politburo. He was perturbed and humiliated but began plotting his revenge. His opportunity came with Gorbachev's establishment of the Congress of People's Deputies . Yeltsin recovered and started intensively criticizing Gorbachev, highlighting
3240-734: The parliament building and stopped an armed uprising; he then introduced a new constitution which significantly expanded the powers of the president. After the crisis, Yeltsin governed the country in a rule by decree until 1994, as the Supreme Soviet of Russia was absent. Secessionist sentiment in the Russian Caucasus led to the First Chechen War , War of Dagestan , and Second Chechen War between 1994 and 1999. Internationally, Yeltsin promoted renewed collaboration with Europe and signed arms control agreements with
3348-557: The ruble , nationwide privatization , and lifting of price controls . Economic downturn, volatility, and inflation ensued. Amid the economic shift, a small number of oligarchs obtained most of the national property and wealth, while international monopolies dominated the market. A constitutional crisis emerged in 1993 after Yeltsin ordered the unconstitutional dissolution of the Russian parliament , leading parliament to impeach him. The crisis ended after troops loyal to Yeltsin stormed
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3456-612: The Central Committee for construction and capital investment, a position within the powerful CPSU Central Committee Secretariat , a move approved by the Central Committee plenum in July 1985. With Gorbachev's support, in December 1985, Yeltsin was installed as the first secretary of the Moscow gorkom of the CPSU . He was now responsible for managing the Soviet capital city, which had a population of 8.7 million. In February 1986, Yeltsin became
3564-446: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union , and thus de facto Soviet leader , in March 1985. Gorbachev was interested in reforming the Soviet Union and, at the urging of Yegor Ligachyov , the organizational secretary of the Central Committee, soon summoned Yeltsin to meet with him as a potential ally in his efforts. Yeltsin had some reservations about Gorbachev as a leader, deeming him controlling and patronizing, but committed himself to
3672-594: The Congress of People's Deputies, the Inter-Regional Group of Deputies, and on 29 July 1989 was elected one of the five co-chairmen of the Inter-Regional Group. On 16 September 1989, Yeltsin toured a medium-sized grocery store ( Randalls ) in Texas . Leon Aron, quoting a Yeltsin associate, wrote in his 2000 biography, Yeltsin, A Revolutionary Life (St. Martin's Press): "For a long time, on
3780-426: The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan the United States never ratified the treaty, but the agreement was honoured by both sides. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed between the United States and Soviet Union in 1987 and ratified in 1988, leading to an agreement to destroy all missiles with ranges from 500 to 5,500 kilometers. This came in the context of a revitalised peace movement during
3888-526: The Soviet Union, the RSFSR became the Russian Federation, an independent state. Through that transition, Yeltsin remained in office as president. He was later reelected in the 1996 election , which critics claimed to be pervasively corrupt. He oversaw the transmission of Russia's command economy into a capitalist market economy by implementing economic shock therapy , market exchange rate of
3996-537: The Soviet government, ministry by ministry—including the Kremlin. On 6 November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning all Communist Party activities on Russian soil. In early December 1991, Ukraine voted for independence from the Soviet Union. A week later, on 8 December, Yeltsin met Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk and the leader of Belarus , Stanislav Shushkevich , in Belovezhskaya Pushcha . In
4104-402: The Soviet system were prosaic rather than ideological, as he believed that the system was losing effectiveness and beginning to decay. He was increasingly faced with the problem of Russia's place within the Soviet Union; unlike other republics in the country, the RSFSR lacked the same levels of autonomy from the central government in Moscow. In the early 1980s, he and Yurii Petrov privately devised
4212-639: The UN General Assembly, the International Atomic Energy Agency was set up in 1957 to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technology and apply safeguards against the diversion of nuclear material from peaceful uses to nuclear weapons . Under the auspices of the United Nations, the Partial Test Ban Treaty , which aimed to end nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, underwater and in outer-space,
4320-546: The United States and the United Kingdom was the first arms control treaty of what can be considered the modern industrial era, leading to the demilitarization of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain region of North America. This was followed by the 1871 Treaty of Washington which led to total demilitarization. The industrial revolution led to the increasing mechanization of warfare, as well as rapid advances in
4428-425: The United States in September 1989, an allegation which appeared to be confirmed by a TV account of his speech; however, popular dissatisfaction with the regime was strong, and these attempts to smear Yeltsin only added to his popularity. In another incident, Yeltsin fell from a bridge. Commenting on this event, Yeltsin hinted that he was helped to fall by the enemies of perestroika , but his opponents suggested that he
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4536-416: The United States. Amid growing internal pressure, he resigned by the end of 1999 and was succeeded as president by his chosen successor, Vladimir Putin , whom he had appointed prime minister a few months earlier. After leaving office, he kept a low profile and was accorded a state funeral upon his death in 2007 . Domestically, he was highly popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although his reputation
4644-586: The West for the first time as he was sent on a trip to France. In 1975, Yeltsin was then made one of the five obkom secretaries in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, a position that gave him responsibility not only for construction in the region but also for the forest and the pulp-and-paper industries. Also in 1975, his family relocated to a flat in the House of Old Bolsheviks on March Street. In October 1976, Ryabov
4752-581: The Yeltsin-backed candidacy of Yegor Gaidar for the position of Russian Prime Minister . An agreement was brokered by Valery Zorkin , president of the Constitutional Court , which included the following provisions: a national referendum on the new constitution; parliament and Yeltsin would choose a new head of government, to be confirmed by the Supreme Soviet; and the parliament was to cease making constitutional amendments that change
4860-589: The adjacent taiga , sometimes for many weeks. In September 1949, Yeltsin was admitted to the Ural Polytechnic Institute (UPI) in Sverdlovsk . He took the stream in industrial and civil engineering, which included courses in maths, physics, materials and soil science, and draftsmanship. He was also required to study Marxist–Leninist doctrine and choose a language course, for which he selected German, although never became adept at it. Tuition
4968-482: The balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. Eventually, on 14 December, Viktor Chernomyrdin , widely seen as a compromise figure, was confirmed in the office. The conflict escalated soon, however, with the parliament changing its prior decision to hold a referendum. Yeltsin, in turn, announced in a televised address to the nation on 20 March 1993, that he was going to assume certain "special powers" to implement his programme of reforms. In response,
5076-442: The constitution, Yeltsin announced in a televised address his decision to disband the Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies by decree. In his address, Yeltsin declared his intent to rule by decree until the election of the new parliament and a referendum on a new constitution, triggering the constitutional crisis of October 1993 . On the night after Yeltsin's televised address, the Supreme Soviet declared Yeltsin removed from
5184-519: The country's disastrous economic performance in the 1990s. Many politicians began to quickly distance themselves from the programme. In February 1992, Russia's vice president, Alexander Rutskoy denounced the Yeltsin programme as "economic genocide". By 1993, conflict over the reform direction escalated between Yeltsin on the one side, and the opposition to radical economic reform in Russia's parliament on
5292-570: The country's problems. On 4 March 1990, Yeltsin was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia representing Sverdlovsk with 72% of the vote. On 29 May 1990, he was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), although Gorbachev personally pleaded with the Russian deputies not to select Yeltsin. A part of this power struggle
5400-439: The damage done by warfare, especially to civilians and the environment, which is seen as bad for all participants regardless of who wins a war. While arms control treaties are seen by many peace proponents as a key tool against war, by the participants, they are often seen simply as ways to limit the high costs of the development and building of weapons, and even reduce the costs associated with war itself. Arms control can even be
5508-563: The development of firearms; the increased potential of devastation (which was later seen in the battlefields of World War I) led to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia calling together the leaders of 26 nations for the First Hague Conference in 1899. The Conference led to the signing of the Hague Convention of 1899 that led to rules of declaring and conducting warfare as well as the use of modern weaponry, and also led to
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#17327830112155616-507: The dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin resolved to embark on a programme of radical economic reform. Surpassing Gorbachev's reforms, which sought to expand democracy in the socialist system, the new regime aimed to completely dismantle socialism and fully implement capitalism, converting the world's largest command economy into a free-market one. During early discussions of this transition, Yeltsin's advisers debated issues of speed and sequencing, with an apparent division between those favoring
5724-560: The exception of India, Israel, Pakistan and South Sudan decided to sign or ratify the document. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the United States and Soviet Union in the late 1960s/early 1970s led to further weapons control agreements. The SALT I talks led to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and an Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement (see SALT I ), both in 1972. The SALT II talks started in 1972 leading to agreement in 1979. Due to
5832-506: The expansion of which was a major priority for the government. He gained a reputation within the construction industry as a hard worker who was punctual and effective and who was used to meeting the targets set forth by the state apparatus. There had been plans to award him the Order of Lenin for his work, although this was scrapped after a five-story building he was constructing collapsed in March 1966. An official investigation found that Yeltsin
5940-537: The hastily called 9th Congress of People's Deputies attempted to remove Yeltsin from the presidency through impeachment on 26 March 1993. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment but fell 72 votes short of the required two-thirds majority. During the summer of 1993, a situation of dual power developed in Russia. From July, two separate administrations of the Chelyabinsk Oblast functioned side by side, after Yeltsin refused to accept
6048-509: The injured Yeltsin from his hospital bed to the Moscow party plenum two days later where he was ritually denounced by the party faithful in what was reminiscent of a Stalinist show trial before he was fired from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party . Yeltsin said he would never forgive Gorbachev for this "immoral and inhuman" treatment. Yeltsin was demoted to the position of First Deputy Commissioner for
6156-605: The international trade in almost all categories of conventional weapons – from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. Ammunition, as well as parts and components, are also covered. More recently, the United Nations announced the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in 2020, following the 50th ratification or accession by member states. Some of the more important international arms control agreements follow: Other treaties also envision
6264-442: The latter beat his wife and children on various occasions. The Soviet Union was then under the leadership of Joseph Stalin , who led the one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Seeking to transform the country into a socialist society according to Marxist–Leninist doctrine, in the late 1920s Stalin's government had initiated a project of mass rural collectivisation coupled with dekulakization . As
6372-402: The latter unambiguously condemned the Soviet intervention in 1968. Although restored to his position, Gorbachev had been destroyed politically. Neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands as support had swung over to Yeltsin. By September, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside of Moscow. Taking advantage of the situation, Yeltsin began taking over what remained of
6480-592: The latter's project of reform. In April 1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin head of the Construction Department of the Party's Central Committee. Although it entailed moving to the capital city, Yeltsin was unhappy with what he regarded as a demotion. There, he was issued a nomenklatura flat at 54 Second Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, where his daughter Tatyana and her son and husband soon joined him and his wife. Gorbachev soon promoted Yeltsin to secretary of
6588-593: The liberalization of foreign trade , prices , and currency. At the same time, Yeltsin followed a policy of "macroeconomic stabilization", a harsh austerity regime designed to control inflation. Under Yeltsin's stabilization programme, interest rates were raised to extremely high levels to tighten money and restrict credit . To bring state spending and revenues into balance, Yeltsin raised new taxes heavily, cut back sharply on government subsidies to industry and construction, and made steep cuts to state welfare spending. In early 1992, prices skyrocketed throughout Russia, and
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#17327830112156696-632: The limits themselves, and in some cases questions of verification have led to the breakdown of treaty negotiations (for example, verification was cited as a major concern by opponents of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty , ultimately not ratified by the United States). States may remain in a treaty while seeking to break the limits of that treaty as opposed to withdrawing from it. This is for two major reasons. To openly defy an agreement, even if one withdraws from it, often
6804-476: The need. Enforcement has been haphazard, with measures more a matter of politics than adherence to the terms. This meant sanctions and other measures tended to be advocated against violators primarily by their natural political enemies, while violations have been ignored or given only token measures by their political allies. More recent arms control treaties have included more stringent terms on enforcement of violations as well as verification. This last has been
6912-423: The newly elected pro-parliament head of the region. The Supreme Soviet pursued its foreign policies, passing a declaration on the status of Sevastopol . In August, a commentator reflected on the situation as follows: "The President issues decrees as if there were no Supreme Soviet, and the Supreme Soviet suspends decrees as if there were no President." ( Izvestia , 13 August 1993). On 21 September 1993, in breach of
7020-510: The other CIS states (which by this time included all of the remaining republics except Georgia), the Russian Federation took the Soviet Union's seat in the United Nations. The next day, Gorbachev resigned and handed the functions of his office to Yeltsin. On 26 December, the Council of the Republics , the upper house of the Supreme Soviet, voted the Soviet Union out of existence, thereby ending
7128-526: The other. Throughout 1992 Yeltsin wrestled with the Supreme Soviet of Russia and the Congress of People's Deputies for control over government, government policy, government banking, and property. In 1992, the speaker of the Russian Supreme Soviet, Ruslan Khasbulatov , came out in opposition to the reforms, despite claiming to support Yeltsin's overall goals. In December 1992, the 7th Congress of People's Deputies succeeded in turning down
7236-476: The party had addressed a leader of the party in such a manner in front of the Central Committee since Leon Trotsky in the 1920s. In his reply, Gorbachev accused Yeltsin of "political immaturity" and "absolute irresponsibility". Nobody in the Central Committee backed Yeltsin. Within days, news of Yeltsin's actions leaked and rumors of his "secret speech" at the Central Committee spread throughout Moscow. Soon, fabricated samizdat versions began to circulate – this
7344-527: The period until the beginning of the 19th century few formal arms control agreements were recorded, except theoretical proposals and those imposed on defeated armies. One treaty which was concluded was the Strasbourg Agreement of 1675 . This is the first international agreement limiting the use of chemical weapons , in this case, poison bullets. The treaty was signed between France and The Holy Roman Empire The 1817 Rush–Bagot Treaty between
7452-464: The plane to Miami, he sat motionless, his head in his hands. 'What have they done to our poor people?' he said after a long silence." He added, "On his return to Moscow, Yeltsin would confess the pain he had felt after the Houston excursion: the 'pain for all of us, for our country so rich, so talented and so exhausted by incessant experiments'." He wrote that Mr. Yeltsin added, "I think we have committed
7560-449: The presidency for breaching the constitution, and Vice-president Alexander Rutskoy was sworn in as acting president. Between 21 and 24 September, Yeltsin was confronted by popular unrest. Demonstrators protested the terrible living conditions under Yeltsin. Since 1989, GDP had declined by half. Corruption was rampant, violent crime was skyrocketing, medical services were collapsing, food and fuel were increasingly scarce and life expectancy
7668-429: The previous decade which included huge demonstrations around the world for nuclear disarmament. The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention was signed banning the manufacture and use of chemical weapons . The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties were signed, as START I and START II , by the US and Soviet Union, further restricting weapons. This was further moved on by the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions , which
7776-574: The province who wrote or published material that the Soviet government considered to be seditious or damaging to the established order. Yeltsin sat on the civil-military collegium of the Urals Military District and attended its field exercises. In October 1978, the Ministry of Defence gave him the rank of colonel . Also in 1978, Yeltsin was elected without opposition to the Supreme Soviet . In 1979 Yeltsin and his family moved into
7884-559: The renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy". After World War II , the United Nations was set up as a body to promote and to maintain international peace and security. The United States proposed the Baruch Plan in 1946 as a way to impose stringent international control over the nuclear fuel cycle and thereby avert a global nuclear arms race, but the Soviet Union rejected the proposal and negotiations failed. Following President Eisenhower's 1953 Atoms for Peace speech to
7992-653: The setting up of the Permanent Court of Arbitration . A Second Hague Conference was called in 1907 leading to additions and amendments to the original 1899 agreement. A Third Hague Conference was called for 1915, but this was abandoned due to the First World War . After the World War I, the League of Nations was set up which attempted to limit and reduce arms. However the enforcement of this policy
8100-475: The slow pace of reform in society, the servility shown to the general secretary, and opposition to him from Ligachyov making his position untenable, before requesting to resign from the Politburo, adding that the City Committee would decide whether he should resign from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party . Aside from the fact that no one had ever quit the Politburo before, no one in
8208-454: The slow pace of reform in the Soviet Union as his major argument. Yeltsin's criticism of the Politburo and Gorbachev led to a smear campaign against him, in which examples of Yeltsin's awkward behavior were used against him. Speaking at the CPSU conference in 1988, Yegor Ligachyov stated, " Boris, you are wrong ". An article in Pravda described Yeltsin as drunk at a lecture during his visit to
8316-481: The speech as a "strong fresh wind" for the party. Yeltsin expressed a similar message at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986 and then in a speech at the House of Political Enlightenment in April. On 10 September 1987, after a lecture from hard-liner Yegor Ligachyov at the Politburo for allowing two small unsanctioned demonstrations on Moscow streets, Yeltsin wrote a letter of resignation to Gorbachev who
8424-412: The strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts. In addition to treaties focused primarily on stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, there has been
8532-599: The summer 1953 break, he traveled across the Soviet Union, touring the Volga , central Russia, Belarus , Ukraine , and Georgia ; much of the travel was achieved by hitchhiking on freight trains. It was at UPI that he began a relationship with Naina Iosifovna Girina , a fellow student who would later become his wife. Yeltsin completed his studies in June 1955. Leaving the Ural Polytechnic Institute, Yeltsin
8640-506: The terms, they usually will seek to either covertly circumvent the terms or to end their participation in the treaty. This was seen with the Washington Naval Treaty (and the subsequent London Naval Treaty ), where most participants sought to work around the limitations, some more legitimately than others. The United States developed better technology to get better performance from their ships while still working within
8748-475: The theoretical backing of arms control. Arms control is meant to break the security dilemma . It aims at mutual security between partners and overall stability (be it in a crisis situation, a grand strategy , or stability to put an end to an arms race ). Other than stability, arms control comes with cost reduction and damage limitation. It is different from disarmament since the maintenance of stability might allow for mutually controlled armament and does not take
8856-429: The use of crossbows against other Christians, although it did not prevent its use against non-Christians. The development of firearms led to an increase in the devastation of war. The brutality of wars during this period led to efforts to formalize the rules of war, with humane treatment for prisoners of war or wounded, as well as rules to protect non-combatants and the pillaging of their property. However, during
8964-556: The weight limits, the United Kingdom exploited a loop-hole in the terms, the Italians misrepresented the weight of their vessels, and when up against the limits, Japan left the treaty. The nations which violated the terms of the treaty did not suffer great consequences for their actions. Within little more than a decade, the treaty was abandoned. The Geneva Protocol has lasted longer and been more successful at being respected, but still nations have violated it at will when they have felt
9072-498: The world's oldest, largest and most powerful Communist state. Economic relations between the former Soviet republics were severely compromised. Millions of ethnic Russians found themselves in newly formed foreign countries. Initially, Yeltsin promoted the retention of national borders according to the pre-existing Soviet state borders, although this left ethnic Russians as a majority in parts of northern Kazakhstan , eastern Ukraine, and areas of Estonia and Latvia . Just days after
9180-452: The youngest provincial first secretaries in the RSFSR, and gave him significant power within the province. Where possible, Yeltsin tried to improve consumer welfare in the province, arguing that it would make for more productive workers. Under his provincial leadership, work started on various construction and infrastructure projects in the city of Sverdlovsk, including a subway system , the replacement of its barracks housing, new theaters and
9288-500: Was a necessity for career advancement. His career continued to progress during the early 1960s; in February 1962 he was promoted chief ( nachal'nik ) of the construction directorate. In June 1963, Yeltsin was reassigned to the Sverdlovsk House-Building Combine as its head engineer, and in December 1965 became the combine's director. During this period he was largely involved in building residential housing,
9396-592: Was a set of rules laid down in ancient Greece by the Amphictyonic Leagues . Rulings specified how war could be waged, and breaches of this could be punished by fines or by war. In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, swords and chain mail armor manufactured in the Frankish empire were highly sought after for their quality, and Charlemagne (r. 768–814), made their sale or export to foreigners illegal, punishable by forfeiture of property or even death. This
9504-718: Was an attempt to limit the possession and use of this equipment by the Franks' enemies, including the Moors , the Vikings and the Slavs . The church used its position as a trans-national organization to limit the means of warfare. The 989 Peace of God (extended in 1033) ruling protected noncombatants, agrarian and economic facilities, and the property of the church from war. The 1027 Truce of God also tried to prevent violence between Christians. The Second Lateran Council in 1139 prohibited
9612-504: Was assigned to work with the Lower Iset Construction Directorate in Sverdlovsk; at his request, he served the first year as a trainee in various building trades. He quickly rose through the organization's ranks. In June 1956 he was promoted to foreman ( master ), and in June 1957 was promoted again, to the position of work superintendent ( prorab ). In these positions, he confronted widespread alcoholism and
9720-481: Was awarded the Order of Lenin for his work. The following year, Brezhnev died and was succeeded by Yuri Andropov , who in turn ruled for 15 months before his own death; Yeltsin spoke positively about Andropov. Andropov was succeeded by another short-lived leader, Konstantin Chernenko . After his death, Yeltsin took part in the Central Committee plenum which appointed Mikhail Gorbachev the new General Secretary of
9828-582: Was christened in the Russian Orthodox Church ; his mother was devout, and his father unobservant. In the years after his birth, the area was hit by the famine of 1932–1933 ; throughout his childhood, Yeltsin was often hungry. In 1932, Yeltsin's parents moved to Kazan , where Yeltsin attended kindergarten . There, in 1934, the OGPU state security services arrested Nikolai, accused him of anti-Soviet agitation , and sentenced him to three years in
9936-448: Was contemptuous of what he saw as the Soviet leader's vanity and sloth. He later claimed to have quashed plans for a Brezhnev museum in Sverdlovsk. While First Secretary, his world-view began to shift, influenced by his reading; he kept up with a wide range of journals published in the country and also claimed to have read an illegally printed samizdat copy of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 's The Gulag Archipelago . Many of his concerns about
10044-499: Was damaged by the economic and political crises of his presidency, and he left office widely unpopular with the Russian population. He received praise and criticism for his role in dismantling the Soviet Union, transforming Russia into a representative democracy, and introducing new political, economic, and cultural freedoms to the country. Conversely, he was accused of economic mismanagement, abuse of presidential power, autocratic behavior, corruption, and of undermining Russia's standing as
10152-474: Was elected chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet and in 1991 was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), becoming the first popularly-elected head of state in Russian history. Yeltsin allied with various non-Russian nationalist leaders and was instrumental in the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December of that year. With the dissolution of
10260-594: Was established in 1963. The 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed to prevent further spread of nuclear weapons technology to countries outside the five that already possessed them: the United States, the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom, France and China. With the three main goals of establishing nonproliferation with inspections, nuclear arms reduction, and the right to use nuclear energy peacefully, this treaty initially met some reluctance from countries developing their own nuclear programs such as Brazil, Argentina and South Africa. Still, all countries with
10368-800: Was falling for all but a tiny handful of the population; moreover, Yeltsin was increasingly getting the blame. By early October, Yeltsin had secured the support of Russia's army and ministry of interior forces. In a massive show of force, Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the Russian White House (parliament building). The attack killed 187 people and wounded almost 500 others. Electoral history of Boris Yeltsin Elections First term Second term Post-Presidency [REDACTED] Media gallery Electoral history of Boris Yeltsin , 1st President of Russia . 1st Moscow constituency: Arms control Arms control
10476-457: Was free and he was provided a small stipend to live on, which he supplemented by unloading railway trucks for a small wage. Academically, he achieved high grades, although temporarily dropped out in 1952 when afflicted with tonsillitis and rheumatic fever . He devoted much time to athletics , and joined the UPI volleyball team. He avoided any involvement in political organizations while there. During
10584-568: Was holidaying on the Black Sea. When Gorbachev received the letter he was stunned – nobody in Soviet history had voluntarily resigned from the ranks of the Politburo. Gorbachev phoned Yeltsin and asked him to reconsider. On 27 October 1987 at the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the CPSU , Yeltsin, frustrated that Gorbachev had not addressed any of the issues outlined in his resignation letter, asked to speak. He expressed his discontent with
10692-591: Was in turn superseded by the New START Treaty . The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was signed in 1996 banning all nuclear explosions in all environments, for military or civilian purposes, but it has not entered into force due to the non-ratification of eight specific states. In 1998 the United Nations founded the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and
10800-409: Was initially a supporter of the perestroika reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev . He later criticized the reforms as being too moderate and called for a transition to a multi-party representative democracy . In 1987, he was the first person to resign from the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , which established his popularity as an anti-establishment figure. In 1990, he
10908-531: Was not a longstanding party member. That year, Yeltsin and his family moved into a four-room apartment on Mamin-Sibiryak Street, downtown Sverdlovsk. Yeltsin then received his second Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his work completing a cold-rolling mill at the Upper Iset Works, a project for which he had overseen the actions of 15,000 laborers. In the late 1960s, Yeltsin was permitted to visit
11016-492: Was not culpable for the accident. Within the local Communist Party, Yeltsin gained a patron in Yakov Ryabov [ ru ] , who became the first secretary of the party gorkom in 1963. In April 1968, Ryabov decided to recruit Yeltsin into the regional party apparatus, proposing him for a vacancy in the obkom 's department for construction. Ryabov ensured that Yeltsin got the job despite objections that he
11124-689: Was not effective. Various naval conferences, such as the Washington Naval Conference , were held during the period between the First and Second World Wars to limit the number and size of major warships of the five great naval powers. The 1925 Geneva Conference led to the banning of chemical weapons being deployed against enemy nationals in international armed conflict as part of the Geneva Protocol . The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact , whilst ineffective, attempted for "providing for
11232-635: Was promoted to a new position in Moscow. He recommended that Yeltsin replace him as the First Secretary of the Party Committee in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Leonid Brezhnev , who then led the Soviet Union as General Secretary of the party's Central Committee , interviewed Yeltsin personally to determine his suitability and agreed with Ryabov's assessment. At the Central Committee's recommendation, the Sverdlovsk obkom then unanimously voted to appoint Yeltsin as its first secretary. This made him one of
11340-403: Was simply drunk. On 26 March 1989, Yeltsin was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union as the delegate from Moscow district with a decisive 92% of the vote, and on 29 May 1989, he was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies to a seat on the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union . On 19 July 1989, Yeltsin announced the formation of the radical pro-reform faction in
11448-508: Was the beginning of Yeltsin's rise as a rebel and growth in popularity as an anti-establishment figure. Gorbachev called a meeting of the Moscow City Party Committee for 11 November 1987 to launch another crushing attack on Yeltsin and confirm his dismissal. On 9 November 1987, Yeltsin apparently tried to kill himself and was rushed to the hospital bleeding profusely from self-inflicted cuts to his chest. Gorbachev ordered
11556-486: Was the opposition between the power structures of the Soviet Union and the RSFSR. In an attempt to gain more power, on 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted a declaration of sovereignty. On 12 July 1990, Yeltsin resigned from the CPSU in a dramatic speech before party members at the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , some of whom responded by shouting "Shame!" During May 1991 Vaclav Havel invited Yeltsin to Prague where
11664-414: Was unusually frank in his discussion of the country's problems. In December 1982 he then gave a television broadcast for the region in which he responded to various letters. This personalised approach to interacting with the public brought disapproval from some Communist Party figures, such as First Secretary of Tyumen Oblast , Gennadii Bogomyakov, although the Central Committee showed no concern. In 1981, he
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