Boris Yeltsin — "I'm not a pessimist. I'm an optimist."
I'm not a pessimist. I'm an optimist.
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More from Boris Yeltsin
"We need to get rid of this bureaucratic monster."
"I am an ordinary person. With extraordinary responsibilities."
"I sometimes make mistakes, but I always learn from them."
"I have always been on the side of the people. And I will always be."
"I don't regret anything. I did what I had to do."
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.