Russia. A History

Chernomyrdin replaced by Kirienko as the prime minister (March-April); renewed miners’ strike blocks the Trans-Siberian Railway (May); international creditors extend new 22.6 billion dollar lending package (13 July); default on short-term treasury bonds, followed by Kirienko’s dismissal (17 August); Yeltsin condemns US missile strikes against ‘terrorist bases’ in Afghanistan and Sudan (21 August); after the Duma rejects Yeltsin’s first nominee (Chernomyrdin), Evgenii Primakov is nominated and confirmed as the new prime minister (September); murder of a prominent Duma deputy under suspicious circumstances (20 November); Belarus and Russia sign agreement to unify (25 December)

1999

Clinton Administration announced plans to develop the National Missile Defence (NMD) system and to modify the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty (January); USA imposes sanctions against three Russian institutions for alleged technology transfer to Iran (10 January); five countries (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Russia) establish a Customs Union and Common Economic Space for the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour (26 February); Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic formally join NATO (12 March); after NATO unleashes military bombardment of Kosovo, Russia suspends relations with NATO (March); Primakov dismissed and replaced by Sergei Stepashin as prime minister (May); IMF loan of 22 billion dollars (July); after another Chechen military attack, Stepashin is replaced by Vladimir Putin as prime minister (August); after bombings in three cities, attributed to Chechen terrorists, Putin orders bombing of Groznyi (23 September) and Russian military invasion of Chechnya (1 October); Duma elections return a pro-government majority, with a Putin-endorsed ‘Unity’ party nearly overtaking the Communist Party (19 December); Putin’s internet posting of his ‘Russia at the Turn of the Millennium’ (29 December); Yeltsin announces resignation, with Putin becoming the acting president (31 December)

2000-

Rebuilding Russia

2000

Pro-Kremlin ‘Unity’ Party and Communists make a deal to split most committee chairs (18 January); London Club of commercial creditors writes off 37% of the Soviet-era debt and agrees to reschedule the balance (February); Russia restores relations with NATO (February); Russian forces take Groznyi (March); presidential election, with Putin winning 53% of the vote (26 March); police raid on Gusinskii’s media headquarters (11 May); Putin establishes plenipotentiaries (polpredy) over seven super-districts (13 May); Putin abolishes State Committee for Environmental Protection (17 May) to promote more favourable business environment; sinking of the submarine Kursk with 118 lives lost (12 August); Putin distances himself from the previous regime, announcing that he can answer only for the last 100 days (29 August); Boris Berezovskii, amidst investigation of alleged crimes, goes into self-declared exile (November); adoption of tsarist (flag, coat of arms) and Soviet (anthem, red banner) symbols (December)

2001

Tax reform, including adoption of 13% flat tax on personal income and simplification of social security taxes (January); the government forces the last independent TV station to stop broadcasting (January); the arrest of FBI agent Robert Hanssen as Russian spy (February), leading to departure of Russian embassy staff who had alleged contacts with Hanssen (March); state-controlled Gazprom takes over Gusinskii’s media empire (April); Shanghai Five expanded to include Uzbekistan and reconstituted as Shanghai Cooperation Organization (June); Russia and China sign Good Neighbour Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, the first treaty since 1950, accompanied by agreements to sell Tupolev jets and to build energy pipelines (July); initial Law on Parties limits participation to national parties and eliminates regional, special interest parties in national elections (11 July); Putin’s vacation turns into a pilgrimage to the most famous holy monasteries in northern Russia (August); in response to the terrorist attacks in the United States, Russia expresses condemnation and facilitates American military action in Afghanistan (September); at the Crawford summit (at President Bush’s ranch in Texas), the two sides fail to break the deadlock on the ABM treaty, but do agree to sharp reductions in strategic nuclear warheads (13–15 November); adoption of judicial reforms to improve law enforcement, with more secure, better-compensated, and more judges (November); USA announces withdrawal from ABM Treaty, effective after six months (December); to create better business environment and encourage foreign investment, Russia adopts a new ‘Labour Code’ giving companies more latitude in hiring and firing and limits collective bargaining rights (30 December)

2002