Zapiski prezidenta

by Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin

Crowds march in the streets. Shots ring out. Some imagine a bright and glorious future, while others predict utter ruin. Politicians scream across chambers at each other. Citizens struggle under the weight of economic shock therapy. Statues of Lenin are torn down and fast-food chains rise up. People begin to taste the sweetness of democracy and freedom. The military acts in shadows, its allegiances uncertain. The mafia spreads its influence. Ethnic divisions widen and the shouts of neofascists become louder. The nation begins to confront its past and to move toward a more just society. The old dictators act feverishly to hang on to their power and privilege. Democrats - still discovering just what democracy means - feel their way forward. Everything is held together only by a hope for a better future and everything is pulled apart by the darkness of history and the stubbornness of a system that will not fade quietly. This is Russia today. In The Struggle for Russia Boris Yeltsin, Russi