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52-649: In 1999, the governor of Krasnoyarsk, General Alexander Lebed , demanded the okrug recognize the central district government of Krasnoyarsk had authority over it, which the okrug refused to do, causing a power struggle between the central district and the okrug 's government. Following a referendum on the issue held on April 17, 2005, Evenk and Taymyr Autonomous Okrugs were merged into Krasnoyarsk Krai effective January 1, 2007. Administratively, they are now considered to be districts with special status within Krasnoyarsk Krai; municipally, they have

104-718: A Mil Mi-8 helicopter crash on 28 April 2002. The helicopter collided with electric lines during foggy weather in the Sayan Mountains . Alexei Arbatov , then member of the State Duma for the liberal Yabloko party, called sabotage a possible reason of the crash. Lebed was survived by his wife, Inna, two sons, a daughter, and his brother Aleksey . Aleksey Lebed served as Head of the Republic of Khakassia from 1997 to 2009. During his time in Moldova, Lebed called

156-542: A "minus." Some analysts both in the West and Russia compared him to Augusto Pinochet and Napoleon Bonaparte . After catching public attention with his actions in Moldova in 1992, the general came to be perceived as being an honest, anti-establishment patriot who stood against government corruption and wanted to restore order. Lebed was not necessarily in favor of democracy and had a mixed opinion of it, but did praise both Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet—saying that Pinochet

208-443: A four-year term in his own right and won in the first round. As of 2024, this is the last Russian presidential election in which losers ( Gennady Zyuganov and Aman Tuleyev ) carried federal subjects. In all subsequent presidential elections, the winner carried all federal subjects. In spring 1998, Boris Yeltsin dismissed his long-time head of government, Viktor Chernomyrdin , replacing him with Sergey Kirienko . Months later, in

260-531: A million signatures to be nominated (although the shortened election meant this was reduced to 500,000). A majority in the first round was enough to win. Failing that, a second round of voting between the top two candidates would be decided by majority vote. The new law also created stricter campaign finance provisions. The new law, in conjunction with the early election would have further helped Putin, who could rely on favorable state television coverage. Of 33 candidates nominated, 15 submitted application forms to

312-1095: A new state, on a confederal basis with the Russian Federation , at the end of the 20th century. General Lebed was also strongly against the expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe initially, but by 1997 had changed his attitude to be more accepting of the idea. However, in March 1997 Lebed stated that he believed its expansion would destabilize the alliance and that it was the result of Cold War thinking, which would cause Russia to become authoritarian in response. 2000 Russian presidential election Vladimir Putin Independent Vladimir Putin Independent Presidential elections were held in Russia on 26 March 2000. Incumbent prime minister and acting president Vladimir Putin , who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin after his resignation on 31 December 1999, sought

364-786: A paratrooper and joined the Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School in 1969, becoming a cadet platoon and company commander while he was there. In 1982, as an officer of the Soviet Airborne Troops , Lebed became a battalion commander in Afghanistan during the Soviet war there. During his time in Afghanistan, Lebed became popular with the troops under his command. He held this position until 1982 at which point he attended

416-430: A party on short notice” and that “its coverage… was strongly supportive of the party it had created.” Further, TV channel ORT aggressively attacked credible opponents to Unity and Putin. Putin “received over a third of the coverage devoted to the candidates on all television channels, as much as Zyuganov (12%), Yavlinsky (11%) and Zhirinovsky (11%) put together.” He received more than a third of print media coverage, and

468-410: A peace agreement, also providing protection to ethnic Russians. Despite this, Lebed remained hostile to the separatist leadership, which he perceived as corrupt and stated that he was "sick and tired of guarding the sleep and safety of crooks." Nonetheless, he remained against President Boris Yeltsin's decision to withdraw most of the 14th Army from Moldova, as he feared it would bring back chaos to

520-490: A refusal to clarify his position on various controversial issues. Uncritical state television coverage of Putin's leadership of the conflict in Chechnya helped him to consolidate his popularity as Prime Minister, even as Yeltsin's popularity as president fell. Analysis of television coverage of the 1999 Duma and 2000 presidential elections found that “it was ORT , and state television more generally, that had helped to create

572-453: A rival of General Pavel Grachev , Airborne Troops commander and future Russian Minister of Defense , due to what Lebed viewed to be his misguided military reforms. Grachev would thus become his main rival. It was reportedly because of Grachev that Lebed found himself deployed to Moldova in 1992, as commander of the 14th Guards Army . There, in the conflict between Russian and Romanian factions, he intervened and used his position to broker

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624-558: A seat in the State Duma, Lebed officially launched his long-anticipated campaign for the Russian presidency in the 1996 election . Lebed ran as a "law and order" candidate promising to curb both street crime and government corruption, as well as also promising to end the unpopular First Chechen War that had been started by President Yeltsin in 1994. For economic policy he hinted that he supported market reforms that were ongoing at

676-642: A slanderous campaign against Yavlinsky's image as his ratings started to rise sharply, and broadcasters generally nearly ignored candidates who did not fulfill interests of their owners. One of the main independent broadcasters, NTV , was subject to increasing financial and administrative pressure during the electoral campaign. Harassment by the Kremlin was utilized to quiet criticism from domestic independent and opposition media, particularly television broadcasters. State agencies pressured media outlets (especially television outlets) to avoid issuing negative reports on

728-835: A status of municipal districts (see Evenkiysky District ). Boris Zolotaryov was the last governor of the autonomous okrug . Before 2007, Evenk AO contained three districts: (2002): 17,697. Of the 17,697 residents (as of the 2002 census) 2 (0.01%) chose not to specify their ethnic background. Of the rest, residents identified themselves as belonging to 67 ethnic groups, including ethnic Russians (62%), Evenks (21.5%), Yakuts (5.6%), Ukrainians (3.1%), Kets (1.2%), 162 Tatars (0.9%), 152 Khakas (0.9%) and 127 Volga Germans (0.7%). 64°00′00″N 100°00′00″E  /  64.0000°N 100.0000°E  / 64.0000; 100.0000 Alexander Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed ( Russian : Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ле́бедь ; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002)

780-572: The 2000 Russian presidential election . His visit to the United States in January 1997 was viewed as an effort to win over American business interests as the best successor to Yeltsin, and included a meeting with Donald Trump at Trump Tower . Reportedly, he discussed potential construction projects in Moscow that Trump could be involved in. "He invited me to Russia and I accepted, I thought he

832-557: The Central Electoral Committee of Russia , which registered 12. They are listed in the Russian alphabetical order they appeared on the ballot. Gennady Zyuganov and Grigory Yavlinsky were the two strongest opposition candidates. Zyuganov ran on a platform of resistance to wholesale public ownership, though he supported a return of illegally privatized property to the state. He opposed public land ownership and advocated for strong public services to be provided by

884-708: The Frunze Military Academy . Among his duties was being a member of the funeral department during the period of many deaths among the Soviet gerontocracy , including three Soviet rulers. In 1988, Lebed became the commander of the 106th Guards Airborne Division . He and his troops took part in the suppression of uprisings throughout the Soviet Caucasus, in Georgia ( 1989 ) and Azerbaijan ( 1990 ), in which he refused to use brutality to put down

936-593: The State Duma and a reduction in the size of the civil bureaucracy. He was the most pro-Western candidate, but only to an extent as he had been critical of the war in Chechnya yet remained skeptical of NATO. One of Putin's major campaign platforms was “dictatorship of the law” and “the stronger the state, the freer the people.” Putin mounted almost no campaign in advance of the 2000 elections. “He held no rallies, gave no speeches, and refused to participate in debates with his challengers.” The extent of Putin's campaign

988-542: The Chechen War. The two primary state-controlled media outlets gave overwhelmingly positive coverage to Putin's handling of the war. Multiple Western journalists (such as the Boston Globe 's David Fillipov ) had been either detained or expelled from the country because they strayed from Russian military guidance in Chechnya. Andrei Babitsky (a correspondent for Radio Liberty) was arrested under charges of aiding

1040-482: The Chechens. Under both Yeltsin and Putin, the Kremlin apparatus was applying financial pressure to Media-Most, a media holding group which had been unfriendly in their coverage. On the other hand, Zyuganov received much fairer media coverage than he had been subject to in the previous presidential election. Polling stations were open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Putin won on the first ballot with 53.4% of

1092-879: The Secretary of the Security Council of Russia . Shortly after taking office as chairman of the Security Council, following Yeltsin's victory against Zyuganov in the July 1996 runoff, Lebed led negotiations with the Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov . They signed agreements in the town of Khasavyurt in Dagestan which ended the First Chechen War in late August 1996. Lebed was given authority as President Yeltsin's representative and

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1144-578: The Yeltsin administration, and eventually became the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai , the second largest Russian region. He served four years in the latter position, until his death following an Mi-8 helicopter crash. He participated in most of Russia's military conflicts in the final decade of the Soviet Union , including the Soviet–Afghan War . From 1988 until 1991, General Lebed served as

1196-399: The belief that “Russia should enter the new millennium with new politicians, new faces, new people, who are intelligent, strong and energetic, while we, those who have been in power for many years, must leave.” In accordance with the constitution, Putin became acting president. The elections would be held on 26 March 2000, as Russian law required an election to be scheduled three months after

1248-599: The commander of the 106th Guards Airborne Division , and later became the deputy head of the Russian Airborne Troops. The general also played a key role in ending the military phase of the conflict in Moldova between Transnistrian separatists and the Moldovan government in 1992, as the commander of the Russian 14th Guards Army which intervened and occupied the region. Popular among the army, when he resigned his commission in 1995 to enter politics, Lebed

1300-618: The control of the armed forces of Russia". The government of the Russian Federation rejected Lebed's claims and stated that such weapons had never been created. In 1998, the general decided to run for governor of the Krasnoyarsk Krai (the second largest region in Russia), wanting to get out of the politics in Moscow after his ouster from the Yeltsin administration. He ended up winning the election for governor, defeating

1352-761: The economic criminals he planned to arrest.” On December 19, 1999, the Kremlin's Unity Party finished second in the parliamentary elections with 23 percent; the Communist Party was first with 24 percent. By forming a coalition with Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces , Yeltsin had secured a favorable majority in the Duma . By the December election, Putin's popularity had risen to 79% with 42% saying they would vote for him for president. On New Year's Eve 1999, Yeltsin announced that he would be resigning early in

1404-455: The first round of the election on 16 June 1996, he came in third place behind Yeltsin and Zyuganov, with 14.7% of the vote. In exchange for Lebed's support, Yeltsin sacked his rival Defense Minister Grachev, replacing him with Igor Rodionov at Lebed's request. There was some evidence that Lebed had dealings with Yeltsin before the election ended. After the first round, Yeltsin named General Lebed as national security head by appointing him as

1456-405: The incumbent Valery Zubov , despite being a complete outsider. There was speculation that he would run for the presidency in 2000, with Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov being projected as his main opponent at that time. However, in 2000 Lebed decided against running for president because he was satisfied with his position as the governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai. While serving as Governor, Lebed died in

1508-670: The office of president is vacated. Before Yeltsin's resignation, the 2000 presidential election had been expected to be held in June or July. The Duma had originally passed legislation scheduling the first round of the election for June 4, with a runoff scheduled for June 25 if necessitated. In early 2000 Unity and the Communist Party had developed an alliance in the Duma that effectively cut off Putin's rivals, Yevgeny Primakov , Grigory Yavlinsky , and Sergei Kiriyenko . Yuri Luzhkov,

1560-451: The presidential elections also in Chechnya was perceived as controversial by many observers due to the military campaign and security concerns. The legislative elections held on 19 December 1999 had been suspended in Chechnya for these reasons. There were many alleged serious forgeries reported that could have affected Putin's victory in the first round. The PACE observers delegation concluded that "the unequal access to television

1612-549: The protestors. By 1991, Lebed held the rank of major general and became second in command of the Airborne Troops. During the 1991 coup d'état attempt by Soviet hardliners against the new Russian government, he gained fame by refusing to follow orders to lead his forces against Boris Yeltsin at the Russian White House , contributing to the coup's collapse. It was also during that time that Lebed became

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1664-410: The reelected Mayor of Moscow, announced that he would not compete for the presidency; Primakov pulled out two weeks after the parliamentary elections. The early election also reduced the chances that public sentiment would turn against the conflict in Chechnya. A new federal law, "On the election of the president of the Russian Federation" was passed in December 1999. It required that candidates gather

1716-469: The region. General Lebed's actions in Moldova increased his popularity among the Russian public, and Russian nationalists in particular. The event, along with his past service record, ensured that Lebed was the most popular military officer in Russia during that time, and by 1994 he was considered to be a favorite candidate for potentially running against Yeltsin in the 1996 Russian presidential election . Lebed himself described Yeltsin's performance as

1768-581: The resulting agreement became known as the Khasavyurt Accords . However, the ending of the Chechen War by the general brought him into conflict with Minister of Internal Affairs Army General Anatoly Kulikov and his faction. He was fired from the Security Council by President Yeltsin in October 1996, following an internal conflict within the government between Lebed and a faction that included president's chief of staff, Anatoly Chubais (who

1820-592: The separatist Transnistrian government "hooligans" and considered the Moldovan authorities as "fascists". He also called fellow politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky "the Lord God's monkey." Lebed did not consider Ukraine and Belarus to be separate countries from Russia, nor did he consider the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages separate from the Russian . In 1995 he believed both countries would become part of

1872-412: The state. He would also strengthen the country's defense capabilities and would resist expansion by the United States and NATO. Grigorii Yavlinsky (Yabloko) ran as a free marketer but with measured state control. He wanted stronger oversight of public money, an end to the black market and reform of the tax system coinciding with an increase in public services. He also advocated for a strengthened role for

1924-455: The time, but remained deliberately vague. Due to his populist rhetoric, Lebed was compared to Vladimir Zhirinovsky , but lacking the latter's aggressive nationalism. Lebed's style and personal charisma were considered to have been more important to his campaign than his political message itself. Up through May, Lebed flirted with the possibility of forming third force coalition with other candidates, however negotiations for this failed. In

1976-460: The wake of the August 1998 economic crisis in which the government defaulted on its debt and devalued the rouble simultaneously, Kirienko was replaced in favor of Yevgeny Primakov . In May 1999, Primakov was replaced with Sergei Stepashin . Then in August 1999, Vladimir Putin was named prime minister, making him the fifth in less than two years. Putin was not expected to last long in the role and

2028-529: Was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Airborne Troops before running for president in the 1996 Russian presidential election . He did not win, but placed third behind incumbent Boris Yeltsin and the Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov , with roughly 14% of the vote nation-wide. Lebed later served as the Secretary of the Security Council in

2080-593: Was a biographical interview broadcast on State Television, and a series of interviews with journalists, paid for by Boris Berezovsky , an oligarch who had helped to build the Unity Party in the Yeltsin years. Putin's platform was best reflected by an “Open letter to Russian voters” that ran in national newspapers on February 25, 2000. Because he refused to participate in the debates, Putin's challengers had no venue in which to challenge his program, vague as it may have been. A number of other candidates explained this as

2132-613: Was able to revive Chile by "putting the army in first place" because "preserving the army is the basis for preserving the government"—and the French leader Charles de Gaulle . General Lebed ended up joining the centrist, nationalistic political movement known as the Congress of Russian Communities . He retired from the army in 1995 in order to enter politics and won a State Duma seat in December of that year . Shortly after winning

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2184-466: Was also regarded as being charismatic by the public, in contrast to other Russian politicians in the 1990s, with polls showing his popularity being ahead of Yeltsin's for some time. As the Secretary of the Security Council in the president's administration after the 1996 election he also led the negotiations that ended the First Chechen War . Although Lebed was compared by some Western and Russian analysts to Augusto Pinochet and Napoleon Bonaparte , he

2236-597: Was born in the Cossack town of Novocherkassk , in the Rostov Oblast , in 1950. In his youth he was not a bad student but preferred boxing and chess . He grew up in poverty. His father was a carpenter who was sentenced to seven years in a Gulag labor camp for arriving late to work twice, and witnessed the Novocherkassk massacre in 1962. During that time he worked at a factory. He was determined to become

2288-442: Was considered to be the most popular candidate for the presidential election of 2000 during the second term of President Yeltsin. After getting elected as governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai in 1998 with strong support from Anatoly Bykov , however, he decided to stay in that position and did not run for president, despite calls for him to do so. General Lebed held the position until his death in the 2002 helicopter crash. Alexander Lebed

2340-417: Was given outsize coverage even in opposition newspapers. Putin announced a new press policy after he won the election. He stated that he believed in “free press” but this should not let the media become “means of mass disinformation and tools of struggle against the state.” He encouraged the state-owned media to control the market and provide the people with “objective information.” The decision to conduct

2392-575: Was increasingly concerned about the Skuratov, Mercata and Mabetex scandals that had prompted articles of impeachment. He narrowly survived impeachment in May 1999. In mid-1999, Yevgeny Primakov and Yuri Luzhkov were considered the frontrunners for the presidency. Both were critical of Yeltsin, and he feared that they might prosecute him and his family for corruption should they ascend to power. Primakov had suggested that he would be “freeing up jail cells for

2444-560: Was initially unknown and unpopular due to his ties to the Yeltsin government and state security. In the late summer and early fall of 1999, a wave of apartment bombings across Russia killed hundreds and injured thousands. The bombings, blamed on the Chechens , provided the opportunity for Putin to position himself as a strong and aggressive leader, capable of dealing with the Chechen threat. Yeltsin had become exceedingly unpopular. Yeltsin

2496-442: Was one of the main reasons for a degree of unfairness of the campaign" and that "independent media have come under increasing pressure and that media in general, be they State-owned or private, failed to a large extent to provide impartial information about the election campaign and candidates." The PACE delegation also reported that the media got more and more dominated by politically influential owners. The TV channel ORT launched

2548-408: Was regarded as being in control of the ailing Yeltsin's administration), Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin , and Interior Minister Kulikov. Yeltsin stated that he was "acting without proper authority" and Chernomyrdin accused General Lebed of "Bonapartism", while Kulikov even claimed Lebed was plotting a coup. Chubais was also worried about the potential of Lebed becoming Yeltsin's successor, as he

2600-623: Was terrific," Trump said after the meeting. One Western analyst stated about Lebed, "He may perceive that Yeltsin benefited greatly from support from the Americans in the last campaign. Bill Clinton made a trip to Moscow during the campaign. And the International Monetary Fund extended loans that enabled the Government to make credible promises to pay wages." He also visited President Clinton's inauguration while he

2652-456: Was the most popular member of the administration, especially after ending the Chechen war. After Chernomyrdin and Kulikov made their accusations, it caused a scandal that led to the President firing Lebed as national security chief. The general nonetheless decided to remain in politics. After his firing, there was some indication that General Lebed intended to run for the presidency again in

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2704-526: Was there, at the invitation of Senator William Roth , who made the request at the behest of an unknown businessman. Overall Lebed was said to have left a good impression on the American businessmen that he met. During that time, he was described as being the most popular candidate for the Russian presidency. On 7 September 1997, Lebed alleged during an interview that a hundred Soviet-made suitcase-sized nuclear weapons designed for sabotage "are not under

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