Russia A History
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1985
Mikhail Gorbachev elected General Secretary (11 March); Eduard Shevardnadze appointed Foreign Minister (2 July); first superpower summit between Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan in Geneva (November)
1986
Tbilisi disorders, with twenty demonstrators slain by Soviet troops (9 April); Chernobyl disaster (26 April); riots in Alma-Ata (December)
1987
Twenty-seventh Party Congress (February-March); new law on ‘socialist enterprise’; Yeltsin dismissed as Moscow party chief (November)
1988
Nineteenth Party Conference transforms role of Communist Party (June)
1989
Ethnic conflict erupts in Nagorno-Karabakh (February); USSR Congress of People’s Deputies elected in partly democratic elections (March); anti-perestroika letter by Nina Andreeva; Gorbachev announces plan to withdraw from Afghanistan (April); miners’ strike (July 1989); first national movement, Sajudis, forms in Lithuania (November)
1990
Election of People’s Deputies of Russian Federation (March); formation of Communist Party of the Russian Federation, with Ivan Polozkov as leader (June); Twenty-eighth Party Congress, with defection of Boris Yeltsin and leaders of Democratic Platform to establish their own party; Gorbachev elected President of the USSR (September)
1991
Soviet troops attack TV centre in Vilnius, killing 14 (January); Boris Yeltsin elected President of the Russian Federation (June); ultimatum to Gorbachev to resign in favour of Gennadii Ianaev signals beginning of attempted coup (18 August); Yeltsin makes his way to White House to lead opposition to putsch (19 August); attempted coup collapses (21 August); Yeltsin announces plans for economic reform (October); Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Azerbaijan declare independence (August-September); Chechnya declares independence (November); Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus agree on formation of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (8 December); CIS formally constituted in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan (21 December); resignation of Gorbachev (25 December); formal dissolution of the USSR (31 December)
1992
Gaidar introduces radical ‘shock therapy’ economic reforms (January); constitutional referendum (April); Tashkent summit (March); Black Sea accord between Ukraine and Russia (August); privatization vouchers issued (1 October); Yeltsin appoints V. Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister (14 December)
1993
START-II signed by United States and Russia (3 January); leaders of Central Asia agree in principle on loose union (January); mounting conflict between Yeltsin and Parliament, which votes to strip the President of his economic powers (March); national referendum of 25 April shows support for Yeltsin (58 per cent of votes) and constitution; Yeltsin dismisses parliament and announces new elections (21 September); after parliament impeaches Yeltsin and poses armed resistance, Yeltsin storms the Parliament building, with upward of 200 killed (3–4 October); many CIS states (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, followed by others) establish their own national currencies (November); national vote to approve constitution (57 per cent) and to elect new Duma, with nearly a quarter of the votes for V. Zhirinovskii’s nationalist party (12 December)
1994
Russian-Belarus economic union (5 January); State Duma amnesties those involved in the October 1993 events (26 February); speculative pyramid scheme based on MMM stock fund fails (29 July); Yeltsin signs agreement with Bashkortostan to define its powers and sovereignty (3 August); Yeltsin, at stopover at Shannon airport, fails to meet with Irish prime minister, reportedly because of illness and inebriation (30 September); crash of ruble (11 October); after peace talks with Chechnya collapse, Moscow launches military assault (11 December)
1995
Rehabilitation of 1.5 million victims from World War II in Gulag (25 January); removal of Sergei Kovalev, critic of Chechnya conflict, as human rights commissioner (10 March); founding congress of pro-government party, ‘Our Home is Russia,’ headed by Viktor Chernomyrdin; Chechen armed unit seizes hostages in Budennovsk, with casualties and successful escape of Chechens (June); Duma elections make the Communist Party the largest party with 22 per cent of the vote, while reducing Zhirinovskii’s Liberal Democratic Party to 11 per cent (17 December)
1996
Treaty of the Four (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan) seeks to enhance integration in economic and foreign policy (29 March); formation of the ‘Shanghai Five’ (Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China) on multilateral non-aggression and policy coordination (26 April); the Paris Club of governmental creditors agrees to reschedule the Russian state debt of 38 billion dollars (29 April); first round of the presidential election, giving Yeltsin 35 per cent of the vote, but not an absolute majority, with 32 per cent voting for Ziuganov of the Communist Party and 15 per cent for the popular ex-general Lebed (16 June); Yeltsin appoints Lebed as secretary of the Security Council, with the latter throwing his support behind Yeltsin (18 June); run-off for the presidential election, with Yeltsin winning 54 per cent of the vote against Ziuganov’s 40 per cent (3 July); liberal economist and architect of the second privatization, Anatolii Chubais, appointed chief of staff of Presidential Administration (15 July); Lebed and the Chechen leader, Aslan Maskhadov, announce the Khasaviurt Accord (31 August); Yeltsin dismisses Lebed (17 October); Yeltsin successfully undergoes quintuple bypass heart surgery (5 November); three-quarters of the country’s miners go on strike to protest wage arrears (3–11 December); the Shanghai Five agree to reduce military forces along common borders (27 December)
1997
Maskhadov (with 65 per cent of the vote) elected president of Chechnya, which now calls itself the Republic of Ishkeriia (27 January); major reshuffling of the Russian government, with Chubais appointed first deputy prime minister (March); Chinese-Russian declaration calling for ‘multipolar’ rather than ‘bipolar’ world (23 April); Shanghai Five agree to further reductions in military forces along the Chinese border (24 April); Yeltsin and Maskhadov sign treaty of principles on peaceful relations, but without a clear resolution on the final status of Chechnia (12 May); Belarus and Russia sign a treaty providing for greater cooperation but not fusion of the two states (23 May); Russia and Ukraine agree to respect existing boundaries, to withhold support from secessionist movements, to divide Black Sea fleet, and to share use of Sevastopol port (31 May); the Madrid conference of NATO formally decides to admit Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic as full members (July); creation of a supreme tax agency, named after the infamous Cheka, to increase state revenues (October); Chubais and several top aides are accused of accepting large book advances from a bank involved in privatization (13 November)
1998
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 do
llars (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
Pro-business tax reform, as corporate tax is reduced (January); two parties, Unity and Fatherland-All Russia, merge to form ‘United Russia’ as pro-government, ruling party in Duma; Putin-Bush sign nuclear arms deal, reducing nuclear arsenals by two-thirds (24 May); USA recognizes RF as having market economy (June); Russia becomes full-fledged member of the G-8 (July); adoption of new Criminal Procedural Code, which bestows significant new rights on the accused and the defence, and transfers power from the procuracy to judges (July); Chechen terrorists seize Moscow theatre, Nordost, taking 800 hostages; most rebels and 129 hostages are killed when special forces storm the building (October); Russia removed from the OECD blacklist of countries that launder illicit funds (November)
2003
Chechnya referendum, denounced by human rights organizations, affirms that Chechnya will remain part of the Russian Federation (March); the government closes TVS, the only national television station not controlled by the state (June); Kyrgyzstan grants Russia a military base at Kant, giving parity with the United States’ base at Manas (September); oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovskii arrested for fraud, tax evasion, and other offences (October); pro-government party United Russia wins Duma elections and, with allies, holds two-thirds of seats (7 December)
2004
Establishment of Stabilization Fund to create reserves and the capacity to counteract short-term fluctuations in global commodity markets (1 January); Putin wins presidential election with 71% (14 March); pro-Russian president of Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in Groznyi (May); Chechen terrorists down two passenger liners, almost simultaneously (August); Beslan tragedy, as Chechen terrorists seize 1,347 hostages and special forces intercede, ultimately with at least 330 hostages (including 186 children) being slain under murky circumstances (1–3 September); the government seizes assets of Yuganskneftegaz, main asset of Khodorkovskii’s Yukos, to cover its tax arrears (August); Putin, citing needs for heightened security, announces new measures to bolster capacity of effective state rule, including presidential appointment of governors in lieu of popular election (13 September); a new process for the selection of governors (presidential nomination, confirmation by regional legislature); revised Law on Parties imposes further restrictions on small parties (October); federal law authorizing the president to nominate governors is adopted (12 November); Russia ratifies Kyoto Protocol, providing the requisite number of signatories for Kyoto to take effect (4 November)
2005
New system to monetize welfare payments leads to mass protests (January); Moscow agrees to supply fuel for Iran’s Beshehr nuclear facility (February); Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov killed by Russian special forces (March); ‘Public Chamber’, as para-legislative collective ombudsman, created by Duma (March) and signed into law by Putin (April); adoption of new electoral law establishing proportionate representation and abolishing single-mandate districts (18 May); trial concluded for Mikhail Khodorkovskii, who is found guilty of tax evasion and fraud and sentenced to nine years incarceration (31 May); Gazprom acquires Izvestiia from Vladimir Potanin as government strengthens its control over media (June); SCO calls for withdrawal of US from military bases and to withdraw forces from Central Asia (July); Russia and Germany sign agreement to construct gas pipeline under Baltic Sea (September); terrorists attack police and other targets in Nal’chik (October); ‘Russia Today’ as English-language TV programme commences operation (December); adoption of Law on NGO registration (23 December), which takes effect 10 April 2006.
2006
Russia cuts delivery of natural gas to Ukraine in dispute over prices, with immediate impact on transit deliveries to Europe (January); Russia surpasses Saudi Arabia in oil output (June); Putin dismisses procurator-general and intensifies campaign against corruption (June); Chechen insurrectionary leader Musa Sadaev killed (17 June); Russian special forces kill Shamil Basaev, infamous Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for multiple terrorist acts (10 July); rouble becomes convertible currency (July); Russia hosts G8 summit in St Petersburg (July); Duma unanimously endorse government request for permission to send special forces anywhere in the world to track down terrorists (July); investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaia murdered (7 October); Russia and USA agree on terms for Russian accession to the World Trade Organization (November); former KGB officer Aleksandr Litvinenko dies from radioactive substance, allegedly at the hands of Russian security organs (23 November)
2007
US announces plan to deploy National Missile Defence system in Poland and Czech Republic (January); Putin speech at Munich conference, with vehement criticism of the United States for expansionism and attempt to establish global supremacy (10 February); police disrupt planned rally of anti-Putin groups in Moscow (April); former president Boris Yeltsin dies (April); Putin proposes joint
missile defence system to resolve dispute over US plans for NMD installations in Poland and Czech Republic (June); Russia sends expedition to Arctic to expand territorial claims and plants flag on seabed at North Pole (August); Russia resumes, after 15 years, long-range patrols of Russian strategic bombers (August); Russia formally suspends participation in 1990 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty limiting heavy military armaments (November); Duma elections gives pro-government party, United Russia, a two-thirds majority in the Duma, with the Communist Party—once the largest party—reduced to just 12% of the vote (10 December); Putin declares support for Dmitrii Medvedev, first deputy prime minister, to succeed him as president (10 December); Time chooses Putin as ‘person of the year’ (19 December) 2008 Stabilization fund divided into ‘Reserve Fund’ (liquid assets to cushion budget from fluctuations in commodity, especially energy, prices) and National Well-being Fund for investment in blue-chip companies (February); Dmitrii Medvedev elected president of Russia with 71% of the vote (March); Medvedev inaugurated as president, Putin named prime minister (May); Georgian forces launch attack on breakaway region South Ossetia, but routed in counter-attack by Russian forces (August); Putin accuses United States of ‘orchestrating’ the Georgian military offensive (28 August); the financial crisis in United States triggers a sharp fall in Russian stock market and price on energy (September-October); death of Patriarch Aleksii II (5 December); constitutional amendment extends the next presidential term to six years and the next Duma term to five years (29 December)
2009
Russia suspends natural gas delivery to Ukraine in dispute over arrears, unpaid fines, and rates, causing disruption in transit deliveries to Europe and eliciting widespread criticism for ‘energy blackmail’ (January); installation of new patriarch, Kirill I (1 February)