Midnight Diaries

by Boris Yeltsin

The only Russian leader in more than a century not to be overthrown or die in office reveals the story of his 10 years in power. The struggles and upheavals in Russia over the last few years seen from the top - Boris Yeltsin was the President of Russia for a decade. He overcame the coup of 1991, he developed good relationships with world leaders from Clinton to Helmut Kohl. What was the chemistry of his meetings with Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair and Ziang Zhao Min? How did he get on when the Queen visited Moscow, the first British monarch to step onto Russian soil since before the first world war? Yeltsin gives his account of the revolution in Chechnya; he explains his feelings on the former Yugoslavia imbroglio and why Russia couldn't intervene more effectively. Here is Yeltsin on his own often unreliable health, his quintuple bypass surgery, his depression and how he survived to retire on the eve of the new millennium. Yeltsin gives his views on a non Communist Russia, democracy, the struggling economy, the mafia - and his own determination to give the citizens of his country a better future than its glorious but authoritarian past.

Genres: Politics, Russia, History, Biography, Memoir, Nonfiction

436 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.

Yeltsin came to power with a wave of high expectations. On 12 June 1991 he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after a series of economic and political crises in Russia in the 1990s. The Yeltsin era was marked by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems. By the time he left office, Yeltsin had an approval rating of two percent by some estimates.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Yeltsin, vowing to transform Russia's socialist command economy into a free market economy, endorsed a program of price liberalization and privatization. As a result, a handful of people were able to enrich themselves while arguably stamping out competitors.

In August 1991, Yeltsin won international plaudits for casting himself as a democrat and defying the August coup attempt of 1991 by the members of Soviet government opposed to perestroika. He left office widely unpopular with the Russian population as an ineffectual and ailing autocrat. He either acted as his own prime minister (until June 1992) or appointed men of his choice, regardless of parliament. His confrontations with parliament climaxed in the October 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, when Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the Russian White House, blasting out his opponents in parliament. Later in 1993, Yeltsin imposed a new constitution with strong presidential powers, which was approved by referendum in December.

Just hours before the first day of 2000, Yeltsin made a surprise announcement of his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of Vladimir Putin.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shortly after finishing this book I went and searched for some 3rd person descriptions of Yeltsin's life and career. Not because the book feels unreliable per say, though he does have an ego and seems to cling to the idea of being squeaky clean a little too fondly, just for curiosity.

Whilst other's recounting of his exploits make him out to be a less patriotically inclined person than his own words in Midnight Diaries suggests, there is a sense from the book and more neutral information that he had democratic inclinations that others in his position may have easily overlooked.

Overall, this book shows someone who seemed to have some interesting notions and even admirable ones, that, regardless of how much he addresses them, seem to also point to an ineffective leader. For example, in how many prime ministers he has.

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading Gromyko's book, I wanted more of that and I decided also to read Jeltsin's story and the book by Gorbachev.

Well, this Rusland, mijn verhaal was okay, but for me nothing more than that. While reading I got the feeling of the sad little boy that seeks recognition for the fact that he's been treated badly by the big boys in higher classes.
A kind of 'it all happened to me but it was not at all my fault' idea. That made contents of the story not less interesting, but a lot more difficult to read. I sometimes even wanted to give up. Since I didn't, the book gets 2 stars.

[Andrew Macfarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into the inner workings of a large, overly bureaucratic state machine. These are edited diary notes, written with the 'help' of members of his inner circle. With the benefit of hindsight (and person admiration), the decisions sometimes appear much too clear, as if a priori they were bound to result in positive consequences (or, the consequences that Yeltsin hoped for: these are not always one and the same). This cannot always be the case, and the events are surely written to convey a feeling of control and predictability, when much of it would have been happenstance. It is personal in tone, and you get a sense of the characters, machinations, and also regrets of a man with the weight of a quite literally massive nation on his shoulders.

...you would probably put him on your list of 'fantasy dinner party guests'. As long as you hid the vodka.

[Igor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way he write the book. Quite interesting to see a point of view from one of the most powerful man in the world. In Russia not many presidents if any survived their time. Boris Yeltsin did.

Presidency, the transition, new World Order, communist regime, the first Russian liberal, first president of Russia, voluntary departure, the predecessor Vladimir Putin, domestic policies, top policy, chess game, war in Chechnya, war in Yugoslavia.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm...who wrote this book?! It was quite entertaining.