Lost and Found in Russia: Encounters in the Deep Heartland (2 page)

TIME LINE

1990
FEBRUARY 8	Mikhail Gorbachev and US Secretary of State James Baker agree that if Germany reunites, NATO will not be expanded.

1991
JUNE 12	Boris Yeltsin is elected as first president of Russian Federation.
JULY 7	$1.5 billion food credit for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) approved by the United States.
AUGUST 19–21	Hard-line Soviet leaders launch a coup to save USSR. Mass demonstrations face down the coup.
AUGUST 24	Gorbachev resigns as general secretary of Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU).
AUGUST 29	Russian parliament dissolves the CPSU.
NOVEMBER 6	Yeltsin bans the CPSU on territory of Russian Federation.
DECEMBER 21	USSR dissolved. Russian Federation and former republics become sovereign states.

1992
JANUARY 29	Yegor Gaidar’s “shock therapy” economic reforms launched; most prices liberalized and spiral up.
JANUARY	Throughout the year the conflict between Yeltsin and parliament (Congress of People’s Deputies) intensifies.
MARCH 21	Tatarstan declares independence from Russia. Fragmentation threatens Russia.
OCTOBER 1	Chubais launches massive privatization program, giving every citizen a 10,000-ruble privatization voucher.
NOVEMBER	Constitutional Court partially lifts ban on the Communist Party.
DECEMBER 9	Congress forces resignation of Prime Minister Gaidar.

1993
JANUARY 3	Yeltsin and Bush sign START 2, envisaging reduction of nuclear weapons.
MARCH 28	Yeltsin declares state of emergency. Congress threatens to impeach him.
APRIL 25	Yeltsin narrowly wins national referendum on his reforms.
JULY 9	G7 countries announce $28.4 billion aid for former USSR.
SEPTEMBER 21	Yeltsin disbands parliament, introduces presidential rule, brings Gaidar back to run economy.
SEPTEMBER 26	Ten thousand demonstrate on behalf of legislators.
OCTOBER 3–4	Political impasse turns to armed conflict. Nationalist and communist deputies barricade themselves in parliament, with their militias. Yeltsin sends tanks to shell parliament; 187 killed. Opposition leaders jailed.
DECEMBER 25	Elections to new parliament (State Duma). Referendum on new constitution with strong presidential role narrowly approved.

1994
JANUARY 16	Gaidar quits government over end to reform program.
SPRING	In Kremlin, Yeltsin’s bodyguard Alexander Korzhakov comes to dominance.
DECEMBER 1	First Chechen war begins. Russian troops enter Chechnya.

1995
FEBRUARY 8	Strike of five hundred thousand miners. Yeltsin starts to lose grip.
JUNE 2	Paris Club reschedules Russia’s $9.5 billion debt.
JUNE 14–23	Basayev’s Chechen terrorists kill hundreds of civilians. Peace negotiations agree to withdrawal of Russia’s army from Chechnya.
AUGUST	NATO launches air strikes in Yugoslavia.

1996
SPRING	Anatoly Chubais offers oligarchs control of key state assets in return for media support and financing of Yeltsin’s reelection.
JUNE–JULY	Terrorist acts in Moscow subway and in North Caucasus.
	Yeltsin steals election from Communist Party.
AUGUST 30–31	General Lebed, Yeltsin’s national security chief, signs peace treaty with Chechen leader. His popularity threatens Yeltsin.
OCTOBER 15	Lebed fired.
DECEMBER 1	Russian troops withdraw from Chechnya.

1997
MAY 27	NATO–Russia Founding Act binds NATO not to deploy nuclear weapons or substantial numbers of foreign troops on territory of its new members.
SUMMER-AUTUMN	War breaks out between Chubais and the oligarchs, and between the oligarchs themselves, when Chubais tries to curtail their “sweetheart deals.”
AUTUMN	Search for Yeltsin’s successor.

1998
MAY 16	Russia becomes member of G8.
JULY 17	Remains of Tsar Nicholas II and family buried in St. Petersburg on eightieth anniversary of their murder.
SUMMER	Financial crisis in Russia: government devalues ruble, defaults on its domestic debts, and declares moratorium on payment to foreign creditors following collapse of Asian market and commodity prices. International Monetary Fund and World Bank give Russia credits.
DECEMBER 16	Bombing of Iraq starts. Kremlin disapproves.

1999
SPRING	Climax of struggle for succession to Yeltsin.
MARCH 17	Vladimir Putin appointed secretary of Security Council.
MARCH 18	Russia condemns NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, in response to repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
MARCH 19	First enlargement of NATO since Cold War, with Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary acceding.
AUGUST 7	Chechen terrorists invade neighboring Dagestan.
AUGUST 26	Russian troops march into Chechnya. Second Chechen war begins.
SEPTEMBER 9–16	Apartment blocks in four Russian cities bombed. Death toll approximately three hundred.
DECEMBER 14–31	Yeltsin appoints Putin as his successor and resigns.

2000
JANUARY–FEBRUARY	Putin revives relations with West, hints at interest in joining NATO.
MARCH 26	Putin is elected president.
MAY	Putin curtails powers of regional governors and brings Chechnya under direct presidential rule.
AUGUST 12	Nuclear submarine Kursk sinks, losing all hands.
JUNE 13	Oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky’s arrest signals drive to break oligarch power.
NOVEMBER	Independent media curbed.

2001
SPRING	End of independent TV channel NTV and Gusinsky’s media empire.
APRIL 12	Putin endorses new “party of power,” United Russia.
JUNE 28	Duma passes law banning use of mind-control weapons on Russian territory.
SEPTEMBER 24	Following terrorist attacks on New York, Putin supports Bush’s war on terror.
DECEMBER 13	United States withdraws from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and fails to back Russia’s bid to join World Trade Organization.

2002
JANUARY	Last independent television channel closed.
MAY 28	Formation of NATO–Russia Council. Putin meets with all NATO leaders.
OCTOBER 23	Chechen terrorists seize Moscow theater, 129 hostages die in battle to free them.

2003
MARCH 19	Start of Second Iraq War.
MARCH 31	EU–Russia summit agrees on areas of cooperation: economy; freedom, security, and human rights; external security; science, education, research, and culture.
OCTOBER 5	Akhmad Kadyrov elected as Chechnya’s leader. Putin starts policy of “Chechenization.”
NOVEMBER 22–23	Georgia’s Rose Revolution sees President Shevardnadze resign in favor of Mikhail Saakashvili.

2004
MARCH 13	Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution.
MARCH 14	Putin reelected with huge majority for second term.
MARCH 29	NATO admits Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
MAY 9	President Akhmad Kadyrov assassinated. His son Ramzan succeeds him.
SUMMER	US–Russian relations deteriorate. Georgian–Russian relations deteriorate.
SEPTEMBER 1	Chechen terrorists occupy Beslan school. More than 340 die in attempt to free them.
SEPTEMBER 26	Election of regional governors scrapped.

2005
JANUARY	Demonstrations throughout Russia over proposal to monetize social benefits.
SPRING	Kremlin builds Nashi and other loyalist youth movements.
MAY 31	Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, owner of Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos, sentenced to nine years for fraud and tax evasion. Assets of Yukos redistributed among Putin’s cadres.
NOVEMBER–
DECEMBER	Ukraine’s Orange Revolution.
DECEMBER 29	Gazprom raises gas price to Ukraine.

2006
JANUARY 1	Brief interruption of Russia’s gas supply to Ukraine and Europe, due to Ukraine’s nonpayment, sends shock waves through Europe.
JANUARY 12	Duma limits activities of NGOs.
FEBRUARY 22	Vladislav Surkov coins term “sovereign democracy” to describe what distinguishes Putin’s regime from liberal democracy.
JULY 15–17	Putin hosts G8 summit in St. Petersburg.
SEPTEMBER 13	Arrest of Russian intelligence officers in Tbilisi triggers blockade of Georgia and deportation of its citizens from Russia.
OCTOBER 7	Anna Politkovskaya, fearless critic of Putin, murdered.
NOVEMBER 23	Ex–FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko granted asylum in Britain and dies of polonium poisoning.

2007
APRIL 30	Russia–Estonia crisis after Estonia seeks to move Soviet war memorial.
JUNE 4	Putin warns Washington that it might retaliate if NATO proceeds with missile defense system in Europe.
JUNE 8	G8 summit in Germany.
JULY 20–24	Moscow–London tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats following Litvinenko poisoning.
AUGUST 8	Russian strategic bombers resume long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and United States.
DECEMBER	Putin ends uncertainty by indicating that he will respect constitution and step down at end of his second presidential term.

2008
MAY 7	Dmitry Medvedev becomes president of Russian Federation.
MAY 8	Putin becomes prime minister.
AUGUST 7	Georgia’s President Saakashvili tries to regain control of South Ossetia. After six days of fighting, Russian troops invade Georgia and destroy all military installations.
SEPTEMBER	Global financial markets crash, ending Russia’s eight-year economic boom.

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