Boris Yeltsin — "You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long."
You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long.
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More from Boris Yeltsin
"I will not crawl on my knees to beg for power."
"I will lie down on the rails if necessary to stop the division of Russia."
"We need to get rid of this communist garbage."
"I believe in the wisdom of the Russian people."
"I am a simple man, but I have a big heart."
About Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007)
First president of post-Soviet Russia (1991-1999), who climbed atop a tank to defy the August 1991 coup and oversaw the chaotic privatization of the 1990s. Closely associated with Mikhail Gorbachev (his predecessor and rival reformer). For an intellectual contrast, see Gennady Zyuganov, Russian Communist Party leader — Zyuganov came within 3 percentage points of beating the ailing Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential runoff — the closest free election Russia has had, and arguably the moment that decided whether Russia would reverse to communism or continue down the path that led to Putin.