Thanks for watching everyone, a lot of effort, research and editing went into this one. If you want to donate/support me, you can do it here: ua-cam.com/channels/19xLluI7dG093Gmw57BhHw.htmljoin
“Rus” is like that troika, “rushing ahead, a high-spirited troika that no one can overtake… Rus, where are you racing to? Answer! She does not answer. The bells start up their fantastical jingling; with a thunder clap, the air is torn into tatters and turns into the wind; everything, everything on earth, flies by, as other nations and states step aside, looking on scornfully, to make way for her.” - Gogol
Thank you very much for the time and effort you invest in educating about Russian history. Your hard work will help people understand how and why Russia is the way it is today. Education is the first step to empathy. You are greatly appreciated. Diana- Virginia, U.S.
People always pin the blame on Gorbachev for all the bad things that happened in Russia after the fall of USSR but in reality, it was the incompetence of Yeltsin that led to all the misery of Russia in the 90’s
He was an incapable leader who was easily taken advantage of by everyone, both inside and outside of Russia. No wonder Russians didn't have a good first impression of democracy.
I always thought they share same level of blame - both politicians were heavily flawed in their implementation of reforms that failed miserably. The only big difference between them was that Yeltsin manage to keep at least control some of his country. Gorbachev did not
As a Russian I’m completely amazed that we could’ve had a parliamentarian type government, probably, president position would’ve been viewed completely deferent if parliament won. Fuck, I’m crushed
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, you guys could have had a sort of confederation of Soviet States borne out of the former overarching USSR (New Union Treaty) if not for the hardliners' coup. Even before that, before the Soviet Union came into power, there was a sort of governmental referendum conducted on which flavor of communist party would come to power (y'all could have had the Mensheviks or gentler communists in power).
@@tylerphuoc2653 There was huge protests in Baltics literally most of the population participated in it, that includes Baltic chain in late 80s. This region would never stay in union. It was forced into it after WW2
@@t2216 the Baltic states never even existed, it was all part of Russia for over 200 years you donkey. Only when the Russian empire fell they were created. The Baltic states were never their own, they were part of Poland, Sweden, or Prussia. They were most likely created by the European empires to just take land away from Russia after it collapsed. So when the Soviet Union came, they simply took back what simply belonged to them in the past.
I remember this day when Yeltisin shot the parlement. I was convinced by Yeltsin that the parlement was dragging back to the USSR by the communists so I was pro-Yeltsin as he seemed to be defending the newlyborn democracy. I was still in my teens in 1993. It took over two decades for me to learn that Yeltsin actually was killing the democracy on that very day and laying foundation for autocracy and tirany.
I was 15 years old and I still remember the tv reports. They were saying that some communist extremists were trying to make a coup and Yeltsin fought back.
My dad was living in Moscow in 1991 and 1993 and a witness of both of the events. You also forgot to mention that in 1993 police were also arresting civilians that were just watching out of curiosity, thinking that they were spies for parliament. My dad got arrested and stayed in prison for three days before his family realized where he was in bailed him out of jail. When we watched videos together of the 1993 event, he was this close to pointing him and his friend out in the background. He also recalled all of the traumatizing and scary images of police and dead bodies and tanks rolling over them. Holy shit it was scary.
ahahhahahahh cool story bro sadly i don't have an imaginary friend of an uncle of dad's grandma's niece because i was fucking there with no stupid made up bullshit 26 / 93
Yeltsin killed democracy in Russia and the West looked the other way because he was "our guy in Moscow." My mother left during this event, uncle brought a gun to the airport so that she would get on no matter what. I am glad you are sharing this to English speakers, it is so sad how much potential was destroyed during the late 80s and 90s.
What was the west suppose to do? Invade? Why is it our responsibility all of a sudden to fix russia. Would supporting a return to communism been better for russia and the world? Democracy, capitalism and the free market was hanging by a tread. Any foreign intervention might have blown up in everyone's face. When west helps it gets shit on yet somehow everything happening in the world is somehow our problem somehow someway.
This is not actually quite accurate. West didn't look the other way, it actively participated. Unfortunately West's role (World Bank, IMF, prominent politicans at the time) is pretty much omitted in the video as well (Perhaps just to keep it reasonably short) . I'd recommend reading Naomi Kleins Shock Doctrine where she documents Russian shock therapy and to what large extent it was orchestrated by Western Powers.
Привет ребята! Please, tell me where the propaganda is be because I might have missed it. It is mostly an analysis of history, with which most Russian would agree (I am yet to find one who likes Ельцин...) and independently of which side you support, factual.
@@jeffersonderrickson5371 Actually from a gopnik street hustler in Chelyabinsk that bald and bankrupt randomly met in an alley to where he is now - impressive transformation. Getting signal boosted by bald's userbase helped Roman have direction to his youtube channel I believe - and it works.
You are absolutely correct that Yeltsin killed democracy that day. He wanted to conduct reforms that the parlament disapproved of. He should have gone the hard way and work out a compromis between his ideas and those of the parliament. That would have not only preserve democracy,but strengthen it in the country.
bro it changes NOTHING russia would not be angelic peaceful to west, that is delusional thinking that democracy makes you nice or something, ukraine war 90% would have happened as well as georgia
Gorbatchev&Yeltsin are the worst 2 devils soviet people had the misfortune to have in their life Those 2 caused a good 25 years of high poverty soviet people never witnessed before Its a big miracle Poutine was able to somehow make russia a developed country by 2017. Cause back in the 1990s 2000s the situation was so horrible. Nobody thought it would be possible
Before it, Yeltsin and parliament existed for 2 years. They basically had almost the same rights, which led to diarchy. Nobody wanted to share power; as a result, power in Russia would either be completely concentrated in the hands of parliament or in the hands of the president. Neither side wanted a settlement or compromise, as the situation with the Metropolitan, who tried to bring the parties to negotiating, clearly shows.
@@avarskypehotinets I am not aware of the case with Metropolitan. Could you please elaborate? Concerning compromised, I believe the West, mostly the US, should have tried to explain to Yeltsin and other parties how democracy works and that the country would be better off in case they were to reach an agreement. Also the world would be better off. I believe it was in everyone's interest to make Russia a stable democracy.
@@genseek00 The parliament's electricity was cut off and they had to sit by candlelight. Then the Metropolitan decided to act as a mediator between President Yeltsin and the Congress of People's Deputies. He was able to agree that electricity would be returned to parliament again... After which the Congress of People's Deputies ended the negotiations. Regarding "It was in everyone's interest to make Russia real democracy"... Yeltsin carried out privatization, distributing state-owned enterprises to his friends, which is why modern Russia has such a problem with oligarchs, Yeltsin did not need democracy, but power was needed, otherwise he would not try to bypass the constitutional court to rewrite the constitution in order to disband the Congress of People's Deputies. The Congress of People's Deputies generally wanted to return the planned, that is, Soviet, economy. The fears that commies were sitting there were not in vain, as it were. And the United States saw and understood everything perfectly, and took advantage of the moment, for example, buying radioactive elements at a super cheap price and robbing Russia in a other ways. Nobody needed a successful, democratic Russia.
Everyone needs to share this video as much as they can. I love this type of content but I can’t expect Roman to want to put in this much effort into each video if we don’t make it worth his time.
@@thedeal86 you forgot to mention Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Canada. They all colonized lands too, China out-populated the Taiwanese Aboriginals and subjugated Tibet, Japan colonized Korea, the Latin Americans countries were originally colonies just like the US. Just because we were the best at it, doesn’t mean we should ignore these other nations accomplishments, even if they are significantly less impressive
You've gone from the "screaming pig driving badly", to "nfkrz we can't understand you", to exposing clickbait GTAV people, and now, you're a credible source for Russian history and politics. I'm glad to have subscribed to you for all these years. Keep up the good work, Roman
@@mikhailkalinin6536 The lack of Internet to spread the information doesn't mean it's not there It just went from "only few people know" to "a lot of people know"
I was an officer in the US Army at this time, and I know / remember the events very well. I have to say, the narrative you provide is far, far different from what we were told in the Western media. We were told the line about Yeltsin protecting Russia from returning to communism. What a shock - we were getting fed the propaganda our leaders wanted us to hear. 🙂 Thanks for the detailed and insightful commentary.
I believe they didn't really bother to look into what Yeltsin did, they just saw a parliament comprised of communists on one side and a democratic president on the other, and were quick to choose who to support.
If a government would tell the truth - there wouldn't be a government. It's always the same people fall for con man, for tails and stories, and the story what is told is closely controlled. Especially when it comes to militaries of this planet. The Russian propaganda is intense and obvious, but that doesn't mean that the other side is telling the truth. Because the truth is, they all want power, they all are greedy and they all are sociopaths that don't want to fight them self for their greed.
Completely agree! Also interesting to note that privatization is also failing in the west, albeit more of a slow-burn disaster. Largely due to the huge amounts of taxpayers money that has been underwriting it for years.
I grew up in the US and was always taught Yeltsin was the “good guy” defending democracy from former “communist hardliners” and that it was all Putin that suppressed/ended Russian democracy.. and from what many others have commented here; I’m not the only one who was falsely taught this… Great video 🙌🏽
To be fair, most of the people saying that didn't realize it was false at the time. It was hard to get out of the outdated mentality that anti-communist and pro-democracy was the same thing. In the case of Yeltsin, it definitely wasn't.
@@troodon1096 oh I believe that.. right after the Cold War I think a lot of people just assumed that since communism was “defeated” that the natural progression for everyone would be free market liberal democracy… but as we can see now with many places that is clearly not the case..
The US is capable of installing the worst dictatorships to counter communism, the installation of Pinochet in South America being the best example. The US applauded Elstin when he bombed parliament in 1993, and the Clinton administration sent advisers in 1996 to help the alcoholic win the election. In addition, France and Germany wanted unconditional financial support for Russia, while the US and UK demanded support conditional on the implementation of brutal liberalism which, through the IMF, has ruined the Russian population and installed strong anti-western sentiment. Thus, having set Russia on a course of anti-democratic Russian nationalism, the West attempted to control the "Beast" through partnerships with NATO and integration into the G7 (G7+1) and WTO. But a Beast is a Beast, and one day it will attack
@@troodon1096 The main challenger to Yeltsin in 1996 was a communist nostalgic. I don't think there was anyone who would have kept democracy in Russia
It’s just that Yeltsin had already agreed with the West on many issues by that time. And they did not want to take risks, so they supported his rule. With regards to the Supreme Council, its leaders, together with Yeltsin, celebrated and drank in 91, after the victory and after they broke up The parliament, by the way, was also not clean, there was enough corruption (but compared to Yeltsin's supporters, this was not so strong) In fact, Yeltsin made a reference to the 3rd episode of Star Wars (more precisely, Star Wars made a reference to Yeltsin) with the transformation of the galactic republic into an empire lol As a result, our newly-minted Palpatine simply seized power and gave influence to his friends, but did nothing else, as he was strong in intrigues to achieve power, but no more He just chilled, he didn't care about the criticism, he didn't choke the media etc. Shock therapy, albeit with a delay, but has borne fruit. (although many people like to attribute the economic recovery to Putin, this process went on regardless of his coming to power) By 2000, Yeltsin’s health had deteriorated from such a luxurious life and he let Putin rule the country Well, then I'm too lazy to write
As an American I remember bits and pieces of these events but I had no real clue what was happening. Thank you very much for the history lesson of your country. Helps to understand the current outcome. Would enjoy more of this type of historical content.
You have just watched the exact same path that the uk started around 14 yr ago when the housing market crashed .but this time it is definatly gonna go pop ,😊
Basically, America's guy in Moscow staged a coup against Duma and thus his own country, and he got away with it with full western support. Yeltsin was a disaster to Russian people in all ways imaginable, his failure led to the rise of Putin.
That is highly contested version, for example big chunk of Russian opposition today believes a completely different story - story where military hardliners took over parliament buildings and started to take over TV and radio. They had little to do with actual parliament. And democracy died in 2004 constitutional coup. That's not to say we are fan of Yeltsin - we like early Yeltsin, but view late Yeltsin as a soft failure. Soft because he didn't let power fall back into dictatorship hardliners in 1996. But failure because of his health and because he literally sat future dictator in president seat. Why I believe it and not this guy? Because I read. I read Death of an Empire by Yegor Gaydar in russian, I read "my life" by Bill Clinton, I've read "russian economy" by Richard Connelly and I've read countless other less relevant books by economists about events around that time.
@@mdjey2 and he ended it as well, do you consider every post-bush president until Biden to be lords of destruction because they had their own war in afghanistan. Gorbachevs reforms were far too late to save brezhnevs fuckup and nepotism or even argueably as far back as khruschevs endless economic mishaps but he was the best *person* to ever be soviet premier
@@wallters8997 american trillions funnelled into yeltsin and anti-soviet groups and the hardliners coup destroyed the chance at a democratic Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. Gorbachev tried but failed, by then he was balanced on a razor and it finally ended up slicing through his heel, only so much of it can be laid to rest at his feet.
@@ultra-papasmurf I don't think you can compare American presidents with Soviet, but their administrations technically was guilty as well including Obama and Trump. In Japan if someone hits your car, you share responsibility because you are on the road as well.
While watching this video I realised that pretty all of Russia’s history in terms of politics is just extremely tragic. Even in the most democratic period of Russian history. What the hell….
I am now genuinely curious on what are your standards on politics, for just about any nation that ever existed, that wouldn't be considered "tragic". San Marino?
@@putinpunhere Look at Canada. Politics doesn't get much tragic other than a parliament burnt, a terrorist hostage situation and a rebellion squashed. Some countries managed to reach democracy without being a tale of tragedy.
Also, watch the Decemberists revolution in Russia, quite one sad event that could've prevented all the pain and tragedy of the later hundreds years to come.
Russia's history is the embodiement of the phrase "victory is written by victors". And every victor tries to not even demonize their predeccessors but to completely eraze them from history. Not much left known about early history and the faith of the people in Russia, some more is known about Russian Empire, but it was demonized a lot by communists, who are being demonized for the last 30 years themselves.
Excellent video Roman. Hard for this elderly (70 years old) retired neurosurgeon from America to comprehend but this is a great start. Thanks Roman, you’re a smart, perceptive freedom loving man!
I'm sure he will, but in the meantime, check out the videos here on YT. Put Ostankino 1993 in the search bar and watch everything there. If you can recompile those shots into another media (like webm) and repost it elsewhere, you'd be doing history a service.
Greatings from Ukraine. Good to see a video about those tragic days in English, in my experience most westerners have no idea just how bad Yeltsin was. So many people believe he was some sort liberal😒
If you work for the USA, you are a liberal and a good person! If you work for the interests of your country, you are a dictator! Everything you need to know about the USA!
Yeah, it truly is baffeling how a man, who was insanely popular and led a democratic effort against the 1991 coup went to become one of the most hated men of Russia. He probably wasn't democratically minded all along and just saw his opportunity to gain power and then keeping that power. Russians trusted the wrong guy and paid dearly.
Thank you so much for making this video. As a Russian, I think this should be shared among Russians as much as possible, not just non-Russians. The way you structured the info makes this time period much more understandable.
@@RhythmAddictedState surely there are a lot of people now who weren’t born then. Anyone under around early thirties will not have a recollection as they were too young, and maybe news might also have been restricted to some degree to their parents even?
Thank you for this video. I lived in Moscow in the mid to late 2000s. While I was living there I had a girlfriend who was born and raised there. She was born in 1986. I remember talking to her mom pretty frequently about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the years in its immediate aftermath. While her mother always made sure to point out that the collapse of the Soviet Union itself caused a period of great political and economic instability that was at times tough to survive, she also said that she experience an almost tangible air of optimism immediately following the independence of the Russian Federation. Whereas the popular narrative in Russia at the time I lived there pointed to the collapse of the USSR as the moment it had all gone wrong, her mother instead very consistently singled out the 1993 constitutional crisis as the event where all hopes for a better future were dashed, and told me she had found it to be the most frightening moment she had experienced in history up to that point. She told me how she kept the kids at home and kept the radio and TV shut off at all times in the presence of the kids, and at various points kept the curtains closed so the kids couldn't see the chaos outside. She basically tried to create a world inside the house where the world outside seemed to not exist. It's a moment in Russian history that is all too often forgotten in the West, even though it's kind of impossible to understand the Russia of today without having some understanding of what happened in 1993. Russian history often feels like a long series of tragedies. I feel a deep love for Russia and its culture, and in nearly every area imaginable I believe the country has almost unmatched potential. Science, art, architecture, music, literature, poetry, sports - Russians have produced some of the greatest achievements in history in each of these fields. They have a highly educated population, an ancient and endlessly fascinating culture, a beautifully versatile and subtle language that allows for some of the most wonderful expressions of humor imaginable. And yet in spite of all of these strengths they are essentially a failed state that is a miserable place to live compared to almost the entire rest of the industrialized world, and they are now an international pariah to boot. It's baffling how a civilization that is blessed with such tremendous wealth (in terms of natural resources, as well as cultural and intellectual wealth) has failed so drastically at becoming a thriving, modern society. What the country has been made into is quite frankly a travesty, and I hope Russians young and old realize that they, too, deserve better than what they've been given by their leaders.
That is a very deep description of the events. I never thought that in the post communist Russia think were like that. The image of the mother trying to create a "normal world in her house" is very astonishing. These children can have traumas. What a mess. Up to this day I never knew Russia had the "Supreme Soviet" in 1993 and all those communist revolts after 1993. It is just amazing how thing are going. At this rate, a world wide communism is inevitable.
You were just lucky to be in Russia at that time. Let's just say that westill say "bring me back my 2007" and there's a good reason for that. And to be honest, itcan be at least partially atributed to Putin. I was born the same year, 1986. And even though I was born in Siberai, not Moscow, and was a young child, i still remember these time. And to be honest, the only good thing about that time was TV, surprisingly. My parents never shut us from the what exactly was happening. just watch the show called "Kukly" ("Dolls"). Throughout the 90s the sence of doom was growing. I didn't live in Moscow, but still in a big city of Krasnoyarsk. Most of my classmates and friends would have take drugs, drink alcohol and have criminals as their role models. Most good things in my childhood were actually thanks to a man called Anatoly Bykov, who was the eneral Director of Krasnoyarsk Aluminium plant. This guy owned the city, full stop. The only guys who could take him down were the Moscow mafia)))) Even though the event was perhaps a hopeful one, what followed was a total destruction of the entire country and its economy. All major indistries and plants were just sold to Western countries and are still owned by them. So what made Russia 'a failed state that is a miserable place to live compared to almost the entire rest of the industrialized world' is desire of Western countries to have Russia as one.
Wow, thank you for sharing your enlightening and completely unbiased perspective on Russia. It's so refreshing to hear from someone who clearly has no personal biases or vested interests in spreading negative narratives about a country they don't even live in. I'm sure your Russian ex-girlfriend's mother's feelings about the 1993 constitutional crisis have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she lived through a time of great political and economic instability. And it's certainly not a coincidence that you choose to focus on Russia's flaws while ignoring the strengths and achievements of the country and its people. Keep on pretending that you have no ulterior motives and that your thoughts on Russia are purely objective and based on facts. We all know how much the West loves to talk about how much they love and care about Russia, right?
I've been following your channel for a while, basically from the start of the... err... "special operation" in Ukraine... And I've really enjoyed your most recent historical flashbacks on the fall of Soviet Union and the birth of Russian state. The way you speak about things in a rather unbiased way, representing all sides yet still managing to keep your opinion encaptivates me. In addition, your persona is something that I feel lots of people can relate to far more easily than some uppity expert in their 60ies. Amazing effort on the last few videos!
@@persianman4857 Imagine being so salty that your general got killed in a drone strike that you blew up an irrelevant civilian airliner in retaliation.
Great video Roman. I'm flabbergasted. I do remember those events very well. I also remember that west European media created a total different image of these events. Boris Yeltsin was portrayed as sort of liberator and the parliament was the left over of the Communist party. A true democracy is always ruled by the parliament and in case of a crisis the military should stay in their barracks. Sadly in Russia its the opposite.
Unfortunately, at that time many Russians believed the same - that we already went through hell to achieve new economy and freedom and parlament would just revert stuff to old soviet stagnant ways and all those sacrifices will be for nothing. While Eltsin was still viewed as some sort or reformist with a vision, so yeah.
The West wanted to instill a capitalist dictatorship undemocratically, because it was in their interest to do so. It was easier to do that, then to deal with the messiness of the democratic and socialist elements of the old system remaining intact. That's why their narrative was way off during the 90s. Democracy requires work, education, compromise and debate over wether the system is working. The Western countries only wanted someone who could do the job of privatization and liberalization. The West was in a way crucial in creating these capitalist illiberal clientielist authoritarian systems all over Eastern Europe, like in Russia with Putin, Serbia with Vučić, Hungary with Orban, Bulgaria with Borisov. They supported all these thugs at one time or another, and still do to this day in many ways.
Yeah he's done a tremendous job. I also remember these events as they happened, and as they were analysed by Russian (and Ukrainian) media, which luckily particularly the former was pretty rich and diverse at the time.
I have never heard about this incident. In general, learning about this time in Russian history is so interesting, and very important to understand how things came to be. Thank you very much for the informative content, it's interesting, easy to understand and very well put together!
Well, it's cool to have an interesting and controversial history, but living through it on the wrong side... Sometimes I wish I were a citizen of Liechtenstein.
Thank you. In Poland we mostly focus on our way to democracy after 1989. I had no idea that it looked in Russia like that (I didn’t even know about tanks shooting at parliament). I’m really sorry it happened and I’m grateful that my country had it easier (it wasn’t perfect, it’s not now but our government machinations with constitutional tribunal are nothing compared to this). I hope one day your country will get better and Russians voice will be truly heard.
bruh, a teenager was sent to court for calling the president an idiot. major private tv channels such as tvn were fined countless times for tiniest reasons. and now, during the war with ukraine, the government is fiddiling two laws: one that pardons the gov officials from any faults in the budget that arise during the war(so they can steal freely) and another one they want to pass that will allow them to lock people in mental hospitals even if these people aren't diagnosed with anything or don't pose danger to others. and how did they treat protesters two years ago? the only reason why they didn't shoot at parliament yet is because they own majority in parliament. poland is on a way to become russia 2.0, or perhaps hungary v2, and only eu and nato partnership is stopping the government.
Ktoś spał na lekcjach historii... W Polsce nie było łatwiej, była bieda, ale w mentalności Polaków najważniejsza jest wolność, natomiast w Rosji od wieków panuje zamordyzm, gdy go nagle brakuje, zaczyna się chaos i anarchia...
I always wondered if anyone would ever cover this topic. A lot of people to this day, assume that the events soon after 1991 was more or less a rather smooth transition to democracy for Russia that is still institutionalized to this day. There is context and reason behind every governments upbringing, laws and beliefs; and not everything is as black n' white as people would like. Thank you @NFKRZ for putting things into perspective!
The reason why most people think it went smoothly is because we had nearly zero reporting in the former USSR, cuz cold war obviously had just ended. And the Russian media/Government was censoring the transition to prevent the West from seeing Russia as weak and unstable. We could argue that current Russia hasn't changed since then, censorship over censorship and blaming the West for everything happening to it. To this day the East vs West mentality is still heavily imprinted into American education and dogmas. While in most other countries we tried having an open arms politic. But with recent events in Ukraine, we've never been closer to another cold war since the collapse of the USSR and with reasons.
I was in a Chinese elementary school when it happened, but I remember watching the news that covered how the event unfolded on television. (Edit) Somehow it was more memorable than Gorbachev's declaration of resignation at the end of 1991.
That’s because that’s how the Western press framed it. I was a college student interested in Russia and the future following decades of Cold War. I say this to illustrate that I was a bit more aware than the average American and even I didn’t know this. Propaganda works on both sides of the pond.
Indeed. I always find it weird that people let things like that slide without turning to rebellion. I guess humans down deep don't want to be free. Even in so-called democracies there are usually only 2 real alternatives (parties or blocks of parties), but at least power is divided between sectors.
Gives me flashbacks to 2020 in washington. The national guard's dispatchment wasn't done many hours after the attempted insurrection delayed by trump's loyalist's, which never forget many many people there including organized, armored and highly armed domestic groups wanted to murder all of congress. One group was somewhat close their plan being to flood the congress escape tunnel with gas and explosives and blow it when they escape. I don't know how all of congress got out of there alive. Luckily our federal agencies and our generals were on our side to foil that and many other plans by these domestic terrorists. If generals were replaced with fascists loyalist it would have been very different just like what happened in this video.
You are ABSOLUTELY right. More in the West need to know this, so thank you for saying it. I knew it was going to end up badly when it happened, and I was dismissed as a crank by many of my friends for not approving of what Yeltsin did in 1993. The prevailing opinion in the West then was that capitalism would naturally lead to democracy, so creating an authoritarian who took Russia capitalist quickly (i.e. Yeltsin) was a good idea. It was a stupid idea (it was the capitalist analogue of Lenin and Stalin thinking authoritarianism in the name of creating a socialist state was a good idea).
As someone from the West, I would agree! Although your typical democracy is capitalist, one can have capitalism _without_ democracy! Yeltsin and Putin have, by combining the undeniably capitalist oligarchy with authoritarian, has proven this. Thanks for the comment!
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions Unfortunately capitalism is incompatible with democracy, bc it puts a price on human rights & gives more rights to those who can afford them. 😞 It will inevitably concentrate power into the hands of whoever has the most capital. We've seen this cycle since capitalism's inception. The US is hypercapitalist at this point & a shining example of how democracy cannot function under this system. 😔 It's pure pröpaganda we've been fed by the ruling class, who just so happens to have all the capital & continues to siphon even more. 😒 Money = power & more rights, under capitalism. No money means no power or rights. To put it even simpler. ☹️
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions there is more power spread in capitalism inherently but theres not much difference to the average person between oligarchy and dictatorahip
@@JaseekaRawr its not incompatible its just extremes in fact goverment law favor trading and tax breaks and subsides and government bailouts all there corrupt the free market without corn subsidies farming corporations wouldnt be able pump out corn for no reason thats why we use corn syrup in everthing because were making tons for no reason so its cheap well it seems cheap because taxes pay for it we have terrible internet infrastructer because the the us government let them have a monopoly like 3 companies control the us internet and cable network bailouts rewarding failed companies with free money and a redo this is all just corruption you need to fight it at all turns. or. it infests a nation
After quitting 4 other videos early because they were just plain uninteresting, I watched this the whole way through. You have an excellent way of getting the story down. You can fit 3 hours of documentary or days of reading in a 30 minute video and make it easy to absorb. This is a good example though of media programming. I hope others notice this as well. Never follow a narrative because the news or popular tv tell you to do so. Thanks dude.
Damn these narrated documentaries are a banger. Love hearing about this side of history from a Russian perspective. Totally down for more of these if you have more to share. Cheers from the States.
I'm not Russian and I didn't know what exactly went wrong in the Russian transition to democracy. Thank you for this video, and you are absolutely right about that no one is above the law. No one or group is supposed to be overpower within the government. The balance within is to be examined with transparency by the people and the media, which need to be well-educated.
It seems to me that the main problem here lies in the West's attempt to deprive Russia of its subjectivity. In the 90s, there was literally no power in Russia, no one monitored the implementation of laws. This lack of power was filled by bandits, who began to divide the countries among themselves. The lives of ordinary people collapsed accordingly. In the 2000s, we had a normal government, which was already engaged in the development of the country. Later, the West began to implement its plans to rebuild the world in the Russian region: an attempt to withdraw post-Soviet countries from the influence of Russia (support for anti-Russian propaganda in post-Soviet countries, organization of color revolutions), advancing NATO's military infrastructure to Russia's borders (Georgia, Ukraine, etc) to neutralize Russia's defense capabilities and deprive Russia of subjectivity, information propaganda inside Russia to create a government controlled by Russia. This leads to the fact that society begins to fear because of the NATO military alliance, which wants to completely subjugate Russia. A common misfortune somehow unites society, because of this, people think less about the need to change the government, stagnation begins ... And so on. At least that's what it looks like to me. It's a pity, of course, that the government is underperforming. If it had worked more efficiently, then our army would have long ago defeated the Ukrainian army and forced Ukraine to sign security guarantees for Russia. And so we are conducting some kind of special operation and Zelensky has not yet been liquidated ...
If you want to know, look up Jeffrey Sachs on UA-cam. He's the man Washington sent to advise Moscow in the 1990s. His answer? USA didn't want Russia as democracy, USA wanted Russia as colony.
@alexrush3857 sure buddy. They have sent billions for the Russian leadership to sort themselves out the oligarchs just asset-stripped the country and some vultures from the West did participate on this BUT damn, Russian corruption, irredentism and misplaced pride made it all the more tragic.
1. It was not transition to democracy, it was transition socialism to capitalism. 2. In the USSR, things were much better with democracy than Western propaganda wrote about it. And better than in today's neo-liberal Russia. In fact, in the 90s there was a transition from a parliamentary republic to presidential authoritarianism with a controlled state Duma. There was a movement in the opposite direction - from democracy to the dictatorship of the wealthy elites.
Wrong guy at the top, since he was not democratic-minded together in a clique with the wrong guys on the top of military and police. If e.g. the heads of the military would've answered to the Parliament and not Yeltsin, Russian Political Evolution after 1993 would've taken an entirely different course.
Honestly from what I know about Russia, It's history is completely tragic. On the verge of a top tier country so many times, but for one reason or another always implodes
They have the vastest natural resources in the World. They could do like Norway and elevate everyone out of poverty and become economically very prosperous but inatead corrup system diverts nearly all the money to the elite's pockets
To think that this channel got its start doing montage parodies, and singing "nobody can touch my swaaaag!" all the way back in 2014. Growing and maturing with your audience over time. Fastforward to the present day, releasing documentaries covering the turbulent Gorbachev and Yeltsin era of post-soviet Russia, shining a light on this little known period of time in Russian history for a greatful western audence. I'm so proud of you!
It does bare mentioning that after the craziness of the Yeltsin 90’s, Putin was seen as restoring stability to Russia and the former Soviet republics-even if he was doing it over the barrel of a gun. It’s why a lot of his crimes largely got ignored by the rest of the world and there is positive opinion about him in much of the western hemisphere today even after all he’s done in Ukraine.
It is nice learning Russian history from an actual Russian. Even if Roman wasn't around when it happened, he is at least from the country where it happened and has family and friends that were where this history happened.
I usually enjoy your videos about the common life of Russians, from video games and fast-food to historical facts, from silly shenanigans to food-for-thought. This video is one of your best and most insightful yet, the evolution of the channel is on the right track, I hope you keep up your great job. Kudos to you sir!
Best video yet on the channel! Thorough research, in-depth analysis, entertaining and educational. You state your bias clearly - and yet give enough information on alternatives so the audience can draw their own conclusions. Roman moved up from vlogger to documentarian!
Outstanding report, Roman!!! I didn't watch this video till Dec 10, 2022, because I'm still catching up with your posts. I recall watching this coup on the news in 1993, but American media didn't really explain what was really happening and why,. Most Americans were given the idea that Communism was a failed evil system ,and they deserved to collapse. Your report paints a clear picture of what took place, and how it eventually led to Putin, who apparently was a good guy at first, until he chose to become a dictator with dreams of restoring the Russian empire. You do good work, Roman!
Youre all right until down Putin doesnt wants to restore any empire. Man, you gotta understand urgently how people is; isnt like one day you are a common citizen and the next day you wake up and say "I will make a world war". This war of today is caused because Ukraine broke the Minsk Treaty and declined to accept any new peace treaty with the rebels. What led to Russia to have no more choice than war. Leave russians alone before you beg them to do so with you.
I remember that in the german media Yeltsin was portrayed as a funny, old uncle and that he maybe an alcoholic but not an aggressive one while Alexander Rutskoy was made out to be the troublemaker. I also remember that for a while it was believed that General Lebed would succeed Yeltsin.
The American media didn't take Yeltsin too seriously, either, for the same reasons. The blind faith in "democracy" (however that is defined) led many Americans to think that Russia would eventually emerge as a stable country with a representative government, free speech, free elections, and a robust economy. As a small group of oligarchs started to take over, there was some mention of it, but mostly positive. Capitalists viewed the oligarchs as the few enlightened people who knew how a free market worked, and thus were able to take advantage of the majority of people who grew up in communism and didn't realize what a share of stock in a company meant.
@@numalesoybea1348 no. American billionaires are often self-made. They invent products like iPhones or PayPal. Stuff people use every day. You can climb up the ladder, even if the president hates you (and belive me Trump hated lots of these people, and yet, American billionaires don't fall out of hospital windows). In Russia people didn't get rich by their own actions, but had friends in power who gave them control over (mostly energy) companies. In the gas sector you cant get into against the government. You can't simply enter, you need a license. There isn't real competition, but state protected monopolies over each gas field. Sure, both have a lot of power, but they are not the same
I did not expect this. Roman's english has reached peak fluency. If you submitted this video-essay for an assignment to a western university as part of a course on modern history of russia I would expect you to get top marks.
I mean, he's been speaking lots and lots of English for years now, right? Five years? Six years? Peak fluency will be reached in any language if you just practice and practice and practice. Roman has clearly done that with English.
@@tnightwolf I wouldn't say that literally anyone can be bilingual in two languages with different alphabets, at least not the the point where it is a laughable achievement when someone is, and it's not laughably common either. His English is great.
I am not ashamed to admit I was a Westerner who was ignorant of the real circumstances of that footage of the parliament being attacked. I also assumed those images were from the end of the USSR. It shows me how I have been misinformed. Thanks Roman! I have been educated. I appreciate the lesson.
I want to sincerely thank you for this very insightful, objective and clear explanation of these regretful events to a global audience. Surely a turning point for the Russian nation. As you mentioned, it saddens (and angers) me so much when supposed leaders toy with the future of an entire country like this, confusing and dividing a desperate population that needs true and serious guidance more than ever. To think that this man not only insulted and viciously attacked this just-founded state at its core, but also let Russia's true potential go down the drain, all solely for personal power, is beyond disgusting. He should definitely be considered a terrorist and a traitor for the immeasurable damage he has caused to the Russian people.
As a Russian who grew up abroad and is being straddled with this absurd conforontation that I should have collective guilt for the actions of the corrupt government of my birth country, I am very thankful for this video, its very educative about the actions of a man (el'cin) who my parents idolized as the first real democratically elected president of my home country, its refreshing to see an unbiased and very truthful video. It pains me to hear about such drastic and terrible times and I understand by each day more and more why my mother tried so hard to leave the country in the 90s. spasibo Roman za eto video, thank you for educating me and the others.
@@MarinKa214 I lived between the UK and the Netherlands, both very similar in terms of individualism with good support if you integrate into the society and culture. I felt very welcome as on the surface I guess I look very Scandinavian and am friendly and approachable, personally had very little issues aside from the odd skepticism on by roots. Largely no one cares as long as you aren't a asshole
I remember watching this at the time and just being horrified by what happened. After 89 and 91, this was just absolutely tragic. Yeltsin was a disaster of a president. Remember his drunken dancing when he was campaigning? Remember him appointing the current president of Russia, seemingly out of nowhere? I member.
This is my favorite type of video when you are explaining Russian / Soviet stuff . To me, it does not matter if it is movies, political leaders, or whatever. Probably one of your best clips Roman, great job!
Wow! An amazing and eye opening presentation. Thanks for all the effort and work you put into this summary of Russian history. I fear that so many democracies in the world today are in great danger because of apathy among the citizens. Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦
I wish they'd taught us about *this* when we were learning about Yeltsin during the 90s--the West COMPLETELY undersold just what an absolute dictator this guy really was, as I've learned in the last couple years. You know what we learned about Yeltsin in Canada? "Yay he tossed out the Commies, bit of a drunk tho" and that was it, man. No wonder Putin took over the way he did--Yeltsin laid out the red carpet for him. Thanks for the great video, cheers from Canada, may you stay safe always.
Russia never had known true democracy but the maker of this video have succeeded deceiving you that it did. The following comment was made as a response NOT TO YOU BUT to the video: If you do know that "The Self Aware Unlimited Energy (Spirit/Power) Creator of the Universe from beyond time and space, Limitless in Intelligence, The EternaL EL YHVH (EL of IsraEL and of IshamEL) exists, then you also know that, . . . that "Soviet Parliament" which was full of criminal communists that have participated in the genocides Stalin made and every other communist dictator that followed after him, and promoted atheism deceiving that The EternaL "EL" does not exist, have received unto themselves (ironically) their own practice which was "arrests (of political opponents being themselves for a change), murders and genocide promoters" out of their own free will, freely choosing so. The Eternal, "EL" allowed for them to receive unto themselves, their own practice of arrest, murders and genocide to happen also against themselves and use one of themselves "Eltzin" to arrest them and dissolve the parliament, the same as The Eternal allowed death to take also Eltzin as well, sooner than otherwise would have taken him. Now they are in the isolation zone of all corruption, sins (evils) and practitioners of such and demons, isolation zone abbreviated h.e.l.l. in agony and despair for tens of thousands of years that will feel as "an eternity" until even death and hell with everything that is in it, will also get erased out of existence. You are not right and perhaps without realizing, you practice DECEIT through this video BECAUSE true democracy is not made by murderers and participators (even if indirectly) to genocide, and then later electing murderers to form a "Parliament" since such Parliament could be called with many kinds of words but certainly not democratic; since people guilty of genocide directly or indirectly and murderers which belongs to prison or to execution, should not be able to vote and are not qualified to participate as candidates and be voted for, and could not form a "Democratic Parliament". Elzin did not practice democracy but neither that Russian Parliament. Russia have never known true Democracy.
@@MasterCommander. That parliament might have been a little wonky, what with at least two of the strongest parliamentary forces being essentially cronies, political circus to play the role of plurality of political opinions on TV. BUT destroying the power of the parliament sealed the fate of the country for good. Also what the hell sort of a drug are you on mate, just remind me not to take any of that...
@@SianaGearz But you should take some. Is called angelic star rays. Is worth $1 000 000.oo for as little as an apple's seed, size, or else the size of a grain of rice. Is what the dreams are made of. Is not from the earth. Is from the outer-space. But the only way you could get some, is if you have contact with EL and if you are a lover of the truth. The Truth shall set you free, friend. Free from any kind of slavery that you are in at current time, but at the same time it empowers you to ascend so that if and when needed, your eternal destiny gets sealed with the empowerment to ascend instead of descending in the isolation zone. If you are interested, I could help you get in contact with EL but you should know that it takes time, diligence, a desire to get the empowerment but above all, to trust and become trusted, to love and become loved. The choice to make could only be yours. The offer was made and to get in contact is totally free, is a gift but I've already told you the conditions: are trust and love. The kind that is genuine, holy, everlasting, loyal into ascendance and beyond. It's up to you, and your choice alone. No one could choose in your behalf. You have to choose (or loose).
West has an obvious agenda for sure. During USSR existence the West would never sthu about USSR and as the collapse and 90s came all the guys who had jobs writing hit pieces in the cold war lost their jobs and the media just stopped reporting on Russia until the late 2000s
@@SianaGearz right. Everyone in there could easily have been voted out. And if it weren't for Chechnya's independence it would have sent communists to the Parliament most likely
I don’t know if Yeltsin’s reformed "failed" exactly. If the goal was to eliminate every last trace of socialism in the Russian economy then they "succeeded". It kinda reminds me of the IMF’s adjustment plans in Latin America − they were never meant to improve the economy but to make it suitable for the concentration of wealth (hence the focus on privatisations and deregulation). It doesn’t matter if people starve as long as the big shareholders are happy, basically. The shock of jumping from a planned economy to that in just a few years only made it more brutal in Russia’s case.
I took a History of Russia class in my last semester of college and I never even learned about this. Granted we focused on the Kieven Rus and imperial Russia but in our 1 class about the 90s my prof didn’t even mention this. This was a super interesting video thanks for making this!
Then go to the wiki and see a bit more and especialy about the people who opposed yeltsin ans how ,,democratic" they wouod have been. Note: i do not oppose any of their views or politics infact i wish they overtrew yeltsin. If they did russia would a different nation today way different in a very good way.
I took a class in university on the history of russia from the russian revolution until modern day. Sadly these events were not mentioned and my prof was a russian engineer who worked at a science institute during the soviet union before coming to the west and switching to teaching history.
Never.. Too much vodka as tranquilizer is available in your country and many citizens seem to need a hard hand to keep values and behavior straight in certain barrier's.. Only with maximum amount and high quality of education will your country transform slowly in the future
This is absolutely tragic. Roman, you made a simply amazing piece with this mini-documentary about the death of Russian democracy. And indeed like you say - you're our "favourite neighbourhood Russian" and I find it's therapeutic to listen to cool and good Russians like yourself, at a time when it's easy to mistakenly think that all Russians are bad considering what's happening in Ukraine and Russians' reaction to it in their own country. Na zdarovie droog!
Wow. I was a young American, but I lived through all this and had forgotten about it, but when you started this video off it all came back. Thank you for making this video
This is such a great synopsis of some super-complicated years. I’ve tried for a long time to read about it and understand it and this really helped! You’re the best 👍🏼❤️
As an American, I’m starting to worry we’re getting closer and closer to a situation like this. Our political environment is only getting more and more tumultuous and unpredictable, and I worry often that we may see a repeat of January 6, 2021, only on a much larger and deadlier scale.
Thanks Roman. Living the other side of the World in New Zealand and even though I read the newspaper everyday, I never fully understood this story. Being pre-internet didn’t help either. I did freedom travel through Russia in 2019 for 3 weeks but even then I only picked up glimpses of what happened in the early 90s, from speaking to any one who was willing to speak to me in English … one tour guide in Moscow told me quite a lot though.
Not surprising. Many Russians who lived through those times don’t really want to talk about it or even remember the cruel times of the 90s. For many citizens, the 90s in Russia were like a long nightmare.
It's good to see you are perfectly capable of producing videos of much more substance. I remember watching this from the time but you've certainly taught me a lot of the details.
Great video, well done. During these events I was a 24 year old college student watching all this on CNN (cable TV). It was pretty scary to see tanks shooting at the parliament building in a nuclear armed country. The simple narrative we got from newscasters was that President Boris Yeltsin was battling Communists in Parliament who wanted to take the country back to the Soviet system.
I think machinegunning an unarmed crowd at the TV center was far worse than firing on the Parliament. Inside the Parliament, there were no bystanders and people had some warning. At Ostankino, absolutely not.
At 6:36. Yeah, the liberalization of prices ALL AT THE SAME TIME is what led to this horrific economic disaster for Russia. What that meant was that highly inefficient Soviet companies all went bankrupt AT THE SAME TIME, which meant unemployment and underemployment increased catastrophically. So few people had steady incomes. Then liberalizing prices on goods and services meant that everyone was bidding up prices on scarce goods, like food, and scarce services, like health care. So it was a double-whammy, made much worse by the hyperinflation. This is why Russians HATED the 1990s. All the promises of free-market capitalism were totally dashed within a few years, leaving lots of Russians very anxious and extremely angry. Notice that China never did this--prices in the Chinese economy were never liberalized at the same time. They did it very slowly and piecemeal, precisely because they didn't want to shove China into the poor house like Russia.
My grandfather was one of the few lucky people that found work for the large conglomerates (Gazprom specifically), and this is perfectly accurate to what he told me about this time, this also lines up with what my aunt, mother, and grandmother told me about that time. Probably the best video on this topic that I have seen so far
Thanks so much for covering this topic! There is such a lack of information in English that discusses the history of Russia in the 90s, I feel like it is a huge blind spot for most of us westerners.
Very good video and summary. Yeltsin is still a very polarizing figure in Russian history. You could argue that Yeltsin did want centralized stability of market economy, but it was all troubled by his own incompetence, love of alcohol, and hardline approach.
Please continue talking about Russian politics. Believe me, we (as in westerners) have had enough of news-reports about Russia, but never from an actual Russian. Keep doing what you are doing. It may be hard, but I love you for it.
Excellent work Roman! You're on fire!... As venezuelan, you have no idea how much this identifies me! Thank you so much! I'm gonna share this everywhere!
It had also died previously in 1991, when there was a referendum on preserving the Soviet Union as " a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics"; yet this was ignored.
This is a fantastic video Roman, honestly, I'm facinated by Russian history and it's often pretty difficult for us westerners to get a clear idea of how things have unfolded in your country. I believe it's often best to have a "regular every day citizen" break down all the historical events then to have a popular/mainstream news outlet cover these turning points. Great video, very interesting and please make more videos like this!
These "regulary every day citizens" are re-telling you stories they read from the media lol. This guy wasn't even planned when all of this was happening, what does he know? As much as you do, relying on accounts of others.
Thank you so much for this detailed history lesson! I remember that some Russian friends also told me once that many people who were escaping from the White House in 1993 via the back entrance were shot (most probably by the snipers), while my sister reported how bizarre it was that a few hundred meters away from the White House the everyday life of ordinary people continued as usual with grocery shoppings etc. (she was studying in Moscow during that time). Furthermore it is also quite ironic that Yeltsin basically only became elected for a 2nd term due to the intense help of PR-experts from the U.S. and huge bank credits from the West, and after the financial crisis of 1998 Putin emerged and was appointed by Yeltsin (without any democratic vote) as the new Czar of Russia, who is now obviously one of the biggest haters of the U.S. (and NATO, of course)... Would be interesting to know what would have happened to Russia and Putin if Yeltsin had lost the 2nd election in 1996 though...
Roman, you did a seriously great job relaying this period...much needed as so few really understood what the heck was going on inside Russia then. I am enjoying your channel more by the day! Now a question: I have been following for 6 months but have always had one question: Can you explain to us your little goodbye action at the end of your videos, where you wind your hands and say something like "Peeee...uuuce!" If you ever need an American Babushka, I'm here for you!
Way to go man. Bringing history and knowledge to the younger generations around the world. Youre really using your platform for a good cause. These are issues that we must never forget. The why and how behind it all must be retained. If not, we will repeat our mistakes.
I think it is frustrating how the world overlooked Yeltsin sending tanks against his own parliament. Putin didn't come to power in a vaccum. Boris and his cronies set the stage.
What do you mean overlooked? Boris acted with the full support of the United States. The Bush Sr. bluntly said that everything that happened was a victory for democracy. And then the Americans gave millions of dollars to falsify Yeltsin's victory in the next election
And then Putin upped the ante by creating false flag bombings on apartments just to start a conflict and kill more people just to show that he is a man of action and make him seem powerful.
Excellent! I'm really impressed at how well organized and complete this presentation is. I grew up in the Cold War years, curious about this mysterious country behind the Iron Curtain. Watching history being made is so fascinating.
Love your content Roman, been watching you for a few years. It's really incredible stuff for an American to be able to see the flipside of the world without having to go there, so thank you!
Well it would have been every one on both sides vs Russia army.. The germans raised also for prosperity and unity on both sides.. Not everyone on the gdr side was russianized
Thanks to huge efforts and investment by West Germany to insure the success of the reunion. I remember that it wasn't easy with complaints from both sides.
Because the Germans were smart enough to join together and make it work, whereas the Russians can’t even find find their ass from their head much less run a country.
I lived through these events. But as an American, the presentation was delivered to us in a much different way. We were basically told that if Yeltsin lost, we would be facing a return to the USSR and the cold war. Interesting that it happened anyway because he did NOT lose. Perhaps it was inevitable either way.
"if Yeltsin lost, we would be facing a return to the USSR and the cold war" This is true, the 1993 opposition wasn't democratic at all, before the shooting at the White House there was some kind of battle on the streets with opposition forces storming buildings (with firearms, of course). As for why it happened any way, it's because Yeltsin got old and less adequate, influenced by his corrupt family and their associates, and opted to choose a successor that would expressively guarantee their safety
@@tobyalder42 Basically Russia was choosing between fascism and state communism. And the choice was of course made by the man with the biggest guns. However, even a communist parliament could have been a way to democracy. Robber capitalism is not a solution.
@@57thorns not really, it was still democracy in Russia before Putin. No way communists could bring democracy or prosperity to Russia. They had been failing to bring it for all ~70 years in power. Not to mention that Putin and his subordinates who now rule the country almost all have communist background
I was born in 1992 in Germany, so I don't know what you saw in US News at the time of these events. I can only imagine that they made the quick conclusion "Commies = Bad; Commies protecting Russian Parliament = Parliament Bad, Yeltsin = Good"
Thanks for this video, it answered a lot of questions I had about this chaotic time. I was in my twenties when these historic events happened and I followed them closely since I was also studying Russian at the time. I remember mostly being afraid that the Communists would regain power, which blindsided me and most of the Western media at the time.
Thanks for this terrific history lesson, Roman. I remember thinking at the time that this was just part of the chaos brought about by the fall of communism and that it was to be expected. We in the West should have paid closer attention.
I was 10 years old. I remember hearing about this. I was worried because I knew that the Soviet Union was a rival but also that we were supposed to be friends now and bad things were happening over there... You know I was 10 so I just assumed Yeltsin was good. Of course, in politics there is no good or bad. There's just materially in your interest or materially against your interest
@@pricessLeopard112 "on/in one breath" (it also could be in one bite when it's about the food) in russian means something like a binge-watching. Forgot if there's something similar exists in English.
WoooooooooooOoooooooOOOW dude, I wasnt aware of all of this, since at the same time in Yugoslavia war was going on (I'm from Bosnia). Until this moment, mainstream news/history channel - somehow missed to bring all this to wider audience like my self. Thank you for directing me to these very facts ❤ Jeltzin by this statements u made here - is in wrong.
Thank you so much for this video Roman, as a Canadian this is something I never knew about and by continously watching this new history series you seem to be focusing on I am learning a lot of the deep rooted issues that make me support what you're doing even more
It should be obvious to everyone just how much work you put into this video. Bravo! You should consider doing more videos like this one - you're really good at it. Keep up the great content!
I must say I really like this type of content on your channel. 90's history of post soviet countries is very interesting for someone as me who was born and raised in Poland in this period. Hope to see more videos like this from you:)
Well , i used to have some truly distorted beliefs about that 3vent, and confused it with 1993 , because my country too had a really bad president that brought miners to beat people and kill any opposition , thank for the video dude
Roman, I love these vids! I am fascinated by Soviet and post Soviet Russia (ty B&B) and your explanations of current events as told by a peer is content worth watching! No pressure, just love all your content!
A* 10/10 video. I never could get a handle on exactly what happened during the coup by Yelstin and you managed to condense it down into 30 mins. Well researched and presented. I wonder what it would take in a post Putin world to dial back the power of the President and return back to a parliamentary system
I just wanted to say that it’s hardest shit to find good background on the story on this site and I really appreciated your take and your work. It’s pretty interesting to look at American news coverage from the time (about the only other vids out there) and how superficially framed it was as Yeltsin, the reformer versus hardline parliamentary communists.
Thanks for watching everyone, a lot of effort, research and editing went into this one.
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Great video Roman! Very interesting, probably one of your best works.
“Rus” is like that troika, “rushing ahead, a high-spirited troika that no one can overtake… Rus, where are you racing to? Answer! She does not answer. The bells start up their fantastical jingling; with a thunder clap, the air is torn into tatters and turns into the wind; everything, everything on earth, flies by, as other nations and states step aside, looking on scornfully, to make way for her.” - Gogol
Corection the day what was left of democracy died
Yoo from Serbia
Thank you very much for the time and effort you invest in educating about Russian history. Your hard work will help people understand how and why Russia is the way it is today. Education is the first step to empathy. You are greatly appreciated. Diana- Virginia, U.S.
People always pin the blame on Gorbachev for all the bad things that happened in Russia after the fall of USSR but in reality, it was the incompetence of Yeltsin that led to all the misery of Russia in the 90’s
He was an incapable leader who was easily taken advantage of by everyone, both inside and outside of Russia. No wonder Russians didn't have a good first impression of democracy.
It wasn't incompetence, it was done on purpose. To weaken Russia, main opponent of US at those time when China wasn't so powerful
I always thought they share same level of blame - both politicians were heavily flawed in their implementation of reforms that failed miserably. The only big difference between them was that Yeltsin manage to keep at least control some of his country. Gorbachev did not
Yea was done on purpose by Yeltsin and for the reforms they didn’t work because of the lower leadership they did everything to screw it
@@mrobocop1666 Yeltsin's gangster capitalism ruined the Russian economy.
As a Russian I’m completely amazed that we could’ve had a parliamentarian type government, probably, president position would’ve been viewed completely deferent if parliament won. Fuck, I’m crushed
During the collapse of the Soviet Union, you guys could have had a sort of confederation of Soviet States borne out of the former overarching USSR (New Union Treaty) if not for the hardliners' coup. Even before that, before the Soviet Union came into power, there was a sort of governmental referendum conducted on which flavor of communist party would come to power (y'all could have had the Mensheviks or gentler communists in power).
@@tylerphuoc2653 Mensheviks were revisionists
@@tylerphuoc2653 There was huge protests in Baltics literally most of the population participated in it, that includes Baltic chain in late 80s. This region would never stay in union. It was forced into it after WW2
@@t2216 the Baltic states never even existed, it was all part of Russia for over 200 years you donkey. Only when the Russian empire fell they were created. The Baltic states were never their own, they were part of Poland, Sweden, or Prussia. They were most likely created by the European empires to just take land away from Russia after it collapsed. So when the Soviet Union came, they simply took back what simply belonged to them in the past.
@@azlanadil3646 Russia still has water access even today to Baltic sea from Kaliningrad and also from St. Petersburg area
I remember this day when Yeltisin shot the parlement. I was convinced by Yeltsin that the parlement was dragging back to the USSR by the communists so I was pro-Yeltsin as he seemed to be defending the newlyborn democracy. I was still in my teens in 1993. It took over two decades for me to learn that Yeltsin actually was killing the democracy on that very day and laying foundation for autocracy and tirany.
So sad how these events show their true face, only years after they're over. Everyone realizes that they were duped.
I was 15 years old and I still remember the tv reports. They were saying that some communist extremists were trying to make a coup and Yeltsin fought back.
Bill Clinton was in full support of Yeltsin in that event.. Go USA.. Slava to whatever the new trend is today..
It wasn’t a real parliament. It was commies and fascists
@@fuck4317 it's not because of that. Forcefully taking over power this way is not going to lead to democracy.
My dad was living in Moscow in 1991 and 1993 and a witness of both of the events. You also forgot to mention that in 1993 police were also arresting civilians that were just watching out of curiosity, thinking that they were spies for parliament. My dad got arrested and stayed in prison for three days before his family realized where he was in bailed him out of jail. When we watched videos together of the 1993 event, he was this close to pointing him and his friend out in the background. He also recalled all of the traumatizing and scary images of police and dead bodies and tanks rolling over them. Holy shit it was scary.
ahahhahahahh cool story bro
sadly i don't have an imaginary friend of an uncle of dad's grandma's niece
because i was fucking there with no stupid made up bullshit
26 / 93
damn , hope u dad is in a good shape this days ! take care and stay safe !
Чувак, ты обманываешь! В то время не было залоговой системы в Российском правосудии! 😂😂😂🖕
she aslo has a english name and women in photo i dont think she says the truth also
@@ТАНКОГРАД-н3й
Dam girl your eyes are as green as jade and do you still in Russia
Yeltsin killed democracy in Russia and the West looked the other way because he was "our guy in Moscow." My mother left during this event, uncle brought a gun to the airport so that she would get on no matter what. I am glad you are sharing this to English speakers, it is so sad how much potential was destroyed during the late 80s and 90s.
We exported crony capitalism but we lied and called it democracy.
Nobody wanted the communists back.
What was the west suppose to do? Invade? Why is it our responsibility all of a sudden to fix russia. Would supporting a return to communism been better for russia and the world? Democracy, capitalism and the free market was hanging by a tread. Any foreign intervention might have blown up in everyone's face. When west helps it gets shit on yet somehow everything happening in the world is somehow our problem somehow someway.
Sure, the West’s fault. Again
This is not actually quite accurate. West didn't look the other way, it actively participated. Unfortunately West's role (World Bank, IMF, prominent politicans at the time) is pretty much omitted in the video as well (Perhaps just to keep it reasonably short) . I'd recommend reading Naomi Kleins Shock Doctrine where she documents Russian shock therapy and to what large extent it was orchestrated by Western Powers.
This is the kind of video that elevates this channel to a higher standard. Very easy to watch and understand, polished factual information
From a Georgian gopnik pad to historical context in 24 hours. Call that range.
You love it when a traitor Russian clown justifies your hate right 😉
I have uploaded a video about Iranian army making murica cry
Привет ребята! Please, tell me where the propaganda is be because I might have missed it. It is mostly an analysis of history, with which most Russian would agree (I am yet to find one who likes Ельцин...) and independently of which side you support, factual.
@@jeffersonderrickson5371 Actually from a gopnik street hustler in Chelyabinsk that bald and bankrupt randomly met in an alley to where he is now - impressive transformation. Getting signal boosted by bald's userbase helped Roman have direction to his youtube channel I believe - and it works.
One of your bests Roman. You've progressed massively over the last couple of years, it's amazing to watch!
From a screaming CSGO shitposter to one of the best Russian political commentators
Quiet, Zoomer.
@@davidgfisher Babies should sleep at this time
I have uploaded a video about Iranian army making murica cry
I agree but low on larfs
You are absolutely correct that Yeltsin killed democracy that day. He wanted to conduct reforms that the parlament disapproved of. He should have gone the hard way and work out a compromis between his ideas and those of the parliament. That would have not only preserve democracy,but strengthen it in the country.
bro it changes NOTHING russia would not be angelic peaceful to west, that is delusional thinking that democracy makes you nice or something, ukraine war 90% would have happened as well as georgia
Gorbatchev&Yeltsin are the worst 2 devils soviet people had the misfortune to have in their life
Those 2 caused a good 25 years of high poverty soviet people never witnessed before
Its a big miracle Poutine was able to somehow make russia a developed country by 2017. Cause back in the 1990s 2000s the situation was so horrible. Nobody thought it would be possible
Before it, Yeltsin and parliament existed for 2 years. They basically had almost the same rights, which led to diarchy. Nobody wanted to share power; as a result, power in Russia would either be completely concentrated in the hands of parliament or in the hands of the president. Neither side wanted a settlement or compromise, as the situation with the Metropolitan, who tried to bring the parties to negotiating, clearly shows.
@@avarskypehotinets I am not aware of the case with Metropolitan. Could you please elaborate?
Concerning compromised, I believe the West, mostly the US, should have tried to explain to Yeltsin and other parties how democracy works and that the country would be better off in case they were to reach an agreement. Also the world would be better off. I believe it was in everyone's interest to make Russia a stable democracy.
@@genseek00 The parliament's electricity was cut off and they had to sit by candlelight. Then the Metropolitan decided to act as a mediator between President Yeltsin and the Congress of People's Deputies. He was able to agree that electricity would be returned to parliament again... After which the Congress of People's Deputies ended the negotiations.
Regarding "It was in everyone's interest to make Russia real democracy"... Yeltsin carried out privatization, distributing state-owned enterprises to his friends, which is why modern Russia has such a problem with oligarchs, Yeltsin did not need democracy, but power was needed, otherwise he would not try to bypass the constitutional court to rewrite the constitution in order to disband the Congress of People's Deputies. The Congress of People's Deputies generally wanted to return the planned, that is, Soviet, economy. The fears that commies were sitting there were not in vain, as it were. And the United States saw and understood everything perfectly, and took advantage of the moment, for example, buying radioactive elements at a super cheap price and robbing Russia in a other ways. Nobody needed a successful, democratic Russia.
Everyone needs to share this video as much as they can. I love this type of content but I can’t expect Roman to want to put in this much effort into each video if we don’t make it worth his time.
we need more content like this about the colonizers, America and UK.
@@thedeal86 you forgot to mention Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, and Canada. They all colonized lands too, China out-populated the Taiwanese Aboriginals and subjugated Tibet, Japan colonized Korea, the Latin Americans countries were originally colonies just like the US. Just because we were the best at it, doesn’t mean we should ignore these other nations accomplishments, even if they are significantly less impressive
@@phonyzebra3848 You forgot the biggest colonizer of all time: Russia
I have uploaded a video about Iranian army making murica cry
@@thedeal86 lmfao. Yeah Russia has never colonized anyone. LOL
You've gone from the "screaming pig driving badly", to "nfkrz we can't understand you", to exposing clickbait GTAV people, and now, you're a credible source for Russian history and politics.
I'm glad to have subscribed to you for all these years. Keep up the good work, Roman
Character development
credible source haha please
@@HippoBean things were much simpler back then
@@mikhailkalinin6536 No they weren't
@@mikhailkalinin6536 The lack of Internet to spread the information doesn't mean it's not there
It just went from "only few people know" to "a lot of people know"
I was an officer in the US Army at this time, and I know / remember the events very well. I have to say, the narrative you provide is far, far different from what we were told in the Western media. We were told the line about Yeltsin protecting Russia from returning to communism. What a shock - we were getting fed the propaganda our leaders wanted us to hear. 🙂 Thanks for the detailed and insightful commentary.
I believe they didn't really bother to look into what Yeltsin did, they just saw a parliament comprised of communists on one side and a democratic president on the other, and were quick to choose who to support.
If a government would tell the truth - there wouldn't be a government. It's always the same people fall for con man, for tails and stories, and the story what is told is closely controlled. Especially when it comes to militaries of this planet. The Russian propaganda is intense and obvious, but that doesn't mean that the other side is telling the truth. Because the truth is, they all want power, they all are greedy and they all are sociopaths that don't want to fight them self for their greed.
@@metsu-satsu4280 they were in league.
Completely agree! Also interesting to note that privatization is also failing in the west, albeit more of a slow-burn disaster. Largely due to the huge amounts of taxpayers money that has been underwriting it for years.
They did not want American joe meddling in foreign affairs and getting ideas like what happened with Vietnam.
I grew up in the US and was always taught Yeltsin was the “good guy” defending democracy from former “communist hardliners” and that it was all Putin that suppressed/ended Russian democracy.. and from what many others have commented here; I’m not the only one who was falsely taught this…
Great video 🙌🏽
To be fair, most of the people saying that didn't realize it was false at the time. It was hard to get out of the outdated mentality that anti-communist and pro-democracy was the same thing. In the case of Yeltsin, it definitely wasn't.
@@troodon1096 oh I believe that.. right after the Cold War I think a lot of people just assumed that since communism was “defeated” that the natural progression for everyone would be free market liberal democracy… but as we can see now with many places that is clearly not the case..
The US is capable of installing the worst dictatorships to counter communism, the installation of Pinochet in South America being the best example.
The US applauded Elstin when he bombed parliament in 1993, and the Clinton administration sent advisers in 1996 to help the alcoholic win the election.
In addition, France and Germany wanted unconditional financial support for Russia, while the US and UK demanded support conditional on the implementation of brutal liberalism which, through the IMF, has ruined the Russian population and installed strong anti-western sentiment.
Thus, having set Russia on a course of anti-democratic Russian nationalism, the West attempted to control the "Beast" through partnerships with NATO and integration into the G7 (G7+1) and WTO.
But a Beast is a Beast, and one day it will attack
@@troodon1096 The main challenger to Yeltsin in 1996 was a communist nostalgic. I don't think there was anyone who would have kept democracy in Russia
It’s just that Yeltsin had already agreed with the West on many issues by that time.
And they did not want to take risks, so they supported his rule.
With regards to the Supreme Council, its leaders, together with Yeltsin, celebrated and drank in 91, after the victory and after they broke up
The parliament, by the way, was also not clean, there was enough corruption (but compared to Yeltsin's supporters, this was not so strong)
In fact, Yeltsin made a reference to the 3rd episode of Star Wars (more precisely, Star Wars made a reference to Yeltsin) with the transformation of the galactic republic into an empire lol
As a result, our newly-minted Palpatine simply seized power and gave influence to his friends, but did nothing else, as he was strong in intrigues to achieve power, but no more
He just chilled, he didn't care about the criticism, he didn't choke the media etc.
Shock therapy, albeit with a delay, but has borne fruit. (although many people like to attribute the economic recovery to Putin, this process went on regardless of his coming to power)
By 2000, Yeltsin’s health had deteriorated from such a luxurious life and he let Putin rule the country
Well, then I'm too lazy to write
As an American I remember bits and pieces of these events but I had no real clue what was happening. Thank you very much for the history lesson of your country. Helps to understand the current outcome. Would enjoy more of this type of historical content.
Peoples are living the shit in 90' in ex commie lands. Only Germany was little more up.
You have just watched the exact same path that the uk started around 14 yr ago when the housing market crashed .but this time it is definatly gonna go pop ,😊
Every American knows that Reagan told Gorbachev to “tear down that wall“ and then Gorbachev just did it. Boom!
Basically, America's guy in Moscow staged a coup against Duma and thus his own country, and he got away with it with full western support. Yeltsin was a disaster to Russian people in all ways imaginable, his failure led to the rise of Putin.
That is highly contested version, for example big chunk of Russian opposition today believes a completely different story - story where military hardliners took over parliament buildings and started to take over TV and radio. They had little to do with actual parliament. And democracy died in 2004 constitutional coup.
That's not to say we are fan of Yeltsin - we like early Yeltsin, but view late Yeltsin as a soft failure. Soft because he didn't let power fall back into dictatorship hardliners in 1996. But failure because of his health and because he literally sat future dictator in president seat.
Why I believe it and not this guy? Because I read. I read Death of an Empire by Yegor Gaydar in russian, I read "my life" by Bill Clinton, I've read "russian economy" by Richard Connelly and I've read countless other less relevant books by economists about events around that time.
I'm glad to see you finally cover this topic. Gorbachev once mentioned "Yeltsin, by nature, was a destroyer" and that had a layer of truth to it.
Lets not forget that under Gorbachev there was war in Afghanistan.
Said the destroyer of the USSR?
@@mdjey2 and he ended it as well, do you consider every post-bush president until Biden to be lords of destruction because they had their own war in afghanistan. Gorbachevs reforms were far too late to save brezhnevs fuckup and nepotism or even argueably as far back as khruschevs endless economic mishaps but he was the best *person* to ever be soviet premier
@@wallters8997 american trillions funnelled into yeltsin and anti-soviet groups and the hardliners coup destroyed the chance at a democratic Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. Gorbachev tried but failed, by then he was balanced on a razor and it finally ended up slicing through his heel, only so much of it can be laid to rest at his feet.
@@ultra-papasmurf I don't think you can compare American presidents with Soviet, but their administrations technically was guilty as well including Obama and Trump. In Japan if someone hits your car, you share responsibility because you are on the road as well.
While watching this video I realised that pretty all of Russia’s history in terms of politics is just extremely tragic. Even in the most democratic period of Russian history. What the hell….
I am now genuinely curious on what are your standards on politics, for just about any nation that ever existed, that wouldn't be considered "tragic". San Marino?
@@putinpunhere Look at Canada. Politics doesn't get much tragic other than a parliament burnt, a terrorist hostage situation and a rebellion squashed. Some countries managed to reach democracy without being a tale of tragedy.
Also, watch the Decemberists revolution in Russia, quite one sad event that could've prevented all the pain and tragedy of the later hundreds years to come.
Russia's history is the embodiement of the phrase "victory is written by victors". And every victor tries to not even demonize their predeccessors but to completely eraze them from history. Not much left known about early history and the faith of the people in Russia, some more is known about Russian Empire, but it was demonized a lot by communists, who are being demonized for the last 30 years themselves.
Russia seems to move from one tragedy to another.
Excellent video Roman. Hard for this elderly (70 years old) retired neurosurgeon from America to comprehend but this is a great start. Thanks Roman, you’re a smart, perceptive freedom loving man!
You dont even look 50! Aging went well for you eh?
Eeeeeeeeeeeeee
Dude, you definitely need to make more Russian history videos, or ex-communist countries history videos. These are fire.
Belarus!
A good subject would be the struggle over who got to appoint (and dismiss) the local governors. Russia’s “investiture crisis”, so to speak.
indeed!
I'm sure he will, but in the meantime, check out the videos here on YT. Put Ostankino 1993 in the search bar and watch everything there. If you can recompile those shots into another media (like webm) and repost it elsewhere, you'd be doing history a service.
Love learning about how screwed up orcs are.
Greatings from Ukraine. Good to see a video about those tragic days in English, in my experience most westerners have no idea just how bad Yeltsin was. So many people believe he was some sort liberal😒
If you work for the USA, you are a liberal and a good person! If you work for the interests of your country, you are a dictator! Everything you need to know about the USA!
He was liberal because he pushed a liberal economic model, letting the west steal russian industry.
Well he was a liberal. But you know what they say: "scratch a liberal and you'll get a fascist".
Страну хотел продать
Yeah, it truly is baffeling how a man, who was insanely popular and led a democratic effort against the 1991 coup went to become one of the most hated men of Russia.
He probably wasn't democratically minded all along and just saw his opportunity to gain power and then keeping that power.
Russians trusted the wrong guy and paid dearly.
Thank you so much for making this video. As a Russian, I think this should be shared among Russians as much as possible, not just non-Russians. The way you structured the info makes this time period much more understandable.
What adult Russian doesn’t know that?
@@sjsj9106 You'd be surprised at the amount of people who don't remember their country's history...
@@RhythmAddictedState surely there are a lot of people now who weren’t born then. Anyone under around early thirties will not have a recollection as they were too young, and maybe news might also have been restricted to some degree to their parents even?
Thank you for this video. I lived in Moscow in the mid to late 2000s. While I was living there I had a girlfriend who was born and raised there. She was born in 1986. I remember talking to her mom pretty frequently about the collapse of the Soviet Union and the years in its immediate aftermath. While her mother always made sure to point out that the collapse of the Soviet Union itself caused a period of great political and economic instability that was at times tough to survive, she also said that she experience an almost tangible air of optimism immediately following the independence of the Russian Federation. Whereas the popular narrative in Russia at the time I lived there pointed to the collapse of the USSR as the moment it had all gone wrong, her mother instead very consistently singled out the 1993 constitutional crisis as the event where all hopes for a better future were dashed, and told me she had found it to be the most frightening moment she had experienced in history up to that point. She told me how she kept the kids at home and kept the radio and TV shut off at all times in the presence of the kids, and at various points kept the curtains closed so the kids couldn't see the chaos outside. She basically tried to create a world inside the house where the world outside seemed to not exist. It's a moment in Russian history that is all too often forgotten in the West, even though it's kind of impossible to understand the Russia of today without having some understanding of what happened in 1993.
Russian history often feels like a long series of tragedies. I feel a deep love for Russia and its culture, and in nearly every area imaginable I believe the country has almost unmatched potential. Science, art, architecture, music, literature, poetry, sports - Russians have produced some of the greatest achievements in history in each of these fields. They have a highly educated population, an ancient and endlessly fascinating culture, a beautifully versatile and subtle language that allows for some of the most wonderful expressions of humor imaginable. And yet in spite of all of these strengths they are essentially a failed state that is a miserable place to live compared to almost the entire rest of the industrialized world, and they are now an international pariah to boot. It's baffling how a civilization that is blessed with such tremendous wealth (in terms of natural resources, as well as cultural and intellectual wealth) has failed so drastically at becoming a thriving, modern society. What the country has been made into is quite frankly a travesty, and I hope Russians young and old realize that they, too, deserve better than what they've been given by their leaders.
That is a very deep description of the events. I never thought that in the post communist Russia think were like that. The image of the mother trying to create a "normal world in her house" is very astonishing. These children can have traumas. What a mess. Up to this day I never knew Russia had the "Supreme Soviet" in 1993 and all those communist revolts after 1993. It is just amazing how thing are going. At this rate, a world wide communism is inevitable.
@@joandimm4462 one can only hope.
Objection: hearsay, lack of foundation, improper expertise.
You were just lucky to be in Russia at that time. Let's just say that westill say "bring me back my 2007" and there's a good reason for that. And to be honest, itcan be at least partially atributed to Putin.
I was born the same year, 1986. And even though I was born in Siberai, not Moscow, and was a young child, i still remember these time. And to be honest, the only good thing about that time was TV, surprisingly. My parents never shut us from the what exactly was happening. just watch the show called "Kukly" ("Dolls"). Throughout the 90s the sence of doom was growing. I didn't live in Moscow, but still in a big city of Krasnoyarsk. Most of my classmates and friends would have take drugs, drink alcohol and have criminals as their role models. Most good things in my childhood were actually thanks to a man called Anatoly Bykov, who was the eneral Director of Krasnoyarsk Aluminium plant. This guy owned the city, full stop.
The only guys who could take him down were the Moscow mafia))))
Even though the event was perhaps a hopeful one, what followed was a total destruction of the entire country and its economy. All major indistries and plants were just sold to Western countries and are still owned by them. So what made Russia 'a failed state that is a miserable place to live compared to almost the entire rest of the industrialized world' is desire of Western countries to have Russia as one.
Wow, thank you for sharing your enlightening and completely unbiased perspective on Russia. It's so refreshing to hear from someone who clearly has no personal biases or vested interests in spreading negative narratives about a country they don't even live in. I'm sure your Russian ex-girlfriend's mother's feelings about the 1993 constitutional crisis have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she lived through a time of great political and economic instability. And it's certainly not a coincidence that you choose to focus on Russia's flaws while ignoring the strengths and achievements of the country and its people. Keep on pretending that you have no ulterior motives and that your thoughts on Russia are purely objective and based on facts. We all know how much the West loves to talk about how much they love and care about Russia, right?
I've been following your channel for a while, basically from the start of the... err... "special operation" in Ukraine... And I've really enjoyed your most recent historical flashbacks on the fall of Soviet Union and the birth of Russian state. The way you speak about things in a rather unbiased way, representing all sides yet still managing to keep your opinion encaptivates me. In addition, your persona is something that I feel lots of people can relate to far more easily than some uppity expert in their 60ies. Amazing effort on the last few videos!
I have uploaded a video about Iranian army making murica cry
@@persianman4857 Imagine being so salty that your general got killed in a drone strike that you blew up an irrelevant civilian airliner in retaliation.
Let'c call it WAR, please.
absolutely agree
Great video Roman. I'm flabbergasted. I do remember those events very well. I also remember that west European media created a total different image of these events. Boris Yeltsin was portrayed as sort of liberator and the parliament was the left over of the Communist party. A true democracy is always ruled by the parliament and in case of a crisis the military should stay in their barracks. Sadly in Russia its the opposite.
Unfortunately, at that time many Russians believed the same - that we already went through hell to achieve new economy and freedom and parlament would just revert stuff to old soviet stagnant ways and all those sacrifices will be for nothing. While Eltsin was still viewed as some sort or reformist with a vision, so yeah.
The West wanted to instill a capitalist dictatorship undemocratically, because it was in their interest to do so. It was easier to do that, then to deal with the messiness of the democratic and socialist elements of the old system remaining intact. That's why their narrative was way off during the 90s. Democracy requires work, education, compromise and debate over wether the system is working. The Western countries only wanted someone who could do the job of privatization and liberalization. The West was in a way crucial in creating these capitalist illiberal clientielist authoritarian systems all over Eastern Europe, like in Russia with Putin, Serbia with Vučić, Hungary with Orban, Bulgaria with Borisov. They supported all these thugs at one time or another, and still do to this day in many ways.
I have uploaded a video about Iranian army making murica cry
Yeah he's done a tremendous job. I also remember these events as they happened, and as they were analysed by Russian (and Ukrainian) media, which luckily particularly the former was pretty rich and diverse at the time.
I have never heard about this incident. In general, learning about this time in Russian history is so interesting, and very important to understand how things came to be. Thank you very much for the informative content, it's interesting, easy to understand and very well put together!
Well, it's cool to have an interesting and controversial history, but living through it on the wrong side... Sometimes I wish I were a citizen of Liechtenstein.
Thank you. In Poland we mostly focus on our way to democracy after 1989. I had no idea that it looked in Russia like that (I didn’t even know about tanks shooting at parliament). I’m really sorry it happened and I’m grateful that my country had it easier (it wasn’t perfect, it’s not now but our government machinations with constitutional tribunal are nothing compared to this).
I hope one day your country will get better and Russians voice will be truly heard.
bruh, a teenager was sent to court for calling the president an idiot. major private tv channels such as tvn were fined countless times for tiniest reasons.
and now, during the war with ukraine, the government is fiddiling two laws: one that pardons the gov officials from any faults in the budget that arise during the war(so they can steal freely) and another one they want to pass that will allow them to lock people in mental hospitals even if these people aren't diagnosed with anything or don't pose danger to others.
and how did they treat protesters two years ago? the only reason why they didn't shoot at parliament yet is because they own majority in parliament.
poland is on a way to become russia 2.0, or perhaps hungary v2, and only eu and nato partnership is stopping the government.
@Antonio Gramsci the fuck you're talking about, this is about poland not your middle eastern shithole
Ktoś spał na lekcjach historii... W Polsce nie było łatwiej, była bieda, ale w mentalności Polaków najważniejsza jest wolność, natomiast w Rosji od wieków panuje zamordyzm, gdy go nagle brakuje, zaczyna się chaos i anarchia...
@@wal3rywhy must you be so rude
@@wal3ry uwielbiam fakt że piszesz taką pierdołę tuż pod filmem opowiadającym dosłownie o ich walce o demokrację
PO OBU STRONACH
...
I always wondered if anyone would ever cover this topic. A lot of people to this day, assume that the events soon after 1991 was more or less a rather smooth transition to democracy for Russia that is still institutionalized to this day. There is context and reason behind every governments upbringing, laws and beliefs; and not everything is as black n' white as people would like. Thank you @NFKRZ for putting things into perspective!
agreed. we need more videos like these for the colonizers UK and America, their democracies are dying too.
The reason why most people think it went smoothly is because we had nearly zero reporting in the former USSR, cuz cold war obviously had just ended. And the Russian media/Government was censoring the transition to prevent the West from seeing Russia as weak and unstable.
We could argue that current Russia hasn't changed since then, censorship over censorship and blaming the West for everything happening to it.
To this day the East vs West mentality is still heavily imprinted into American education and dogmas. While in most other countries we tried having an open arms politic. But with recent events in Ukraine, we've never been closer to another cold war since the collapse of the USSR and with reasons.
I was in a Chinese elementary school when it happened, but I remember watching the news that covered how the event unfolded on television.
(Edit) Somehow it was more memorable than Gorbachev's declaration of resignation at the end of 1991.
No nation had a smooth transition to democracy
That’s because that’s how the Western press framed it. I was a college student interested in Russia and the future following decades of Cold War. I say this to illustrate that I was a bit more aware than the average American and even I didn’t know this. Propaganda works on both sides of the pond.
This reminds me of the day Turkey's democracy died: 2017 referandum. Even the worst type of democracy is much better than autocracy.
You mean it didn’t die in the NATO-Gulenist sponsored coup in 2016? LOL
Turkey's autocrcacy is also unbearable because of hyperinflation.
Indeed. I always find it weird that people let things like that slide without turning to rebellion. I guess humans down deep don't want to be free. Even in so-called democracies there are usually only 2 real alternatives (parties or blocks of parties), but at least power is divided between sectors.
@@GnosticAtheist Most of the people who voted for Erdogan are even not living in Turkie
Gives me flashbacks to 2020 in washington. The national guard's dispatchment wasn't done many hours after the attempted insurrection delayed by trump's loyalist's, which never forget many many people there including organized, armored and highly armed domestic groups wanted to murder all of congress. One group was somewhat close their plan being to flood the congress escape tunnel with gas and explosives and blow it when they escape. I don't know how all of congress got out of there alive. Luckily our federal agencies and our generals were on our side to foil that and many other plans by these domestic terrorists. If generals were replaced with fascists loyalist it would have been very different just like what happened in this video.
You are ABSOLUTELY right. More in the West need to know this, so thank you for saying it. I knew it was going to end up badly when it happened, and I was dismissed as a crank by many of my friends for not approving of what Yeltsin did in 1993. The prevailing opinion in the West then was that capitalism would naturally lead to democracy, so creating an authoritarian who took Russia capitalist quickly (i.e. Yeltsin) was a good idea. It was a stupid idea (it was the capitalist analogue of Lenin and Stalin thinking authoritarianism in the name of creating a socialist state was a good idea).
As someone from the West, I would agree! Although your typical democracy is capitalist, one can have capitalism _without_ democracy! Yeltsin and Putin have, by combining the undeniably capitalist oligarchy with authoritarian, has proven this. Thanks for the comment!
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions Unfortunately capitalism is incompatible with democracy, bc it puts a price on human rights & gives more rights to those who can afford them. 😞 It will inevitably concentrate power into the hands of whoever has the most capital. We've seen this cycle since capitalism's inception. The US is hypercapitalist at this point & a shining example of how democracy cannot function under this system. 😔
It's pure pröpaganda we've been fed by the ruling class, who just so happens to have all the capital & continues to siphon even more. 😒 Money = power & more rights, under capitalism. No money means no power or rights. To put it even simpler. ☹️
@@Hand-in-Shot_Productions there is more power spread in capitalism inherently but theres not much difference to the average person between oligarchy and dictatorahip
@@JaseekaRawr its not incompatible its just extremes in fact goverment law favor trading and tax breaks and subsides and government bailouts all there corrupt the free market without corn subsidies farming corporations wouldnt be able pump out corn for no reason thats why we use corn syrup in everthing because were making tons for no reason so its cheap well it seems cheap because taxes pay for it
we have terrible internet infrastructer because the the us government let them have a monopoly like 3 companies control the us internet and cable network
bailouts rewarding failed companies with free money and a redo
this is all just corruption you need to fight it at all turns. or. it infests a nation
The west doesn't care about democracy, Bill Clinton supported Yeltsin's capmaign even after he dissolved the parliament and arrested his oppositon
After quitting 4 other videos early because they were just plain uninteresting, I watched this the whole way through. You have an excellent way of getting the story down. You can fit 3 hours of documentary or days of reading in a 30 minute video and make it easy to absorb. This is a good example though of media programming. I hope others notice this as well. Never follow a narrative because the news or popular tv tell you to do so. Thanks dude.
This is a wonderful history lesson and very well delivered. Your presentations are excellent!
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My parents are from Russia and I’m from America. I’ve always wanted to know what happened post Soviet times, your videos help me learn more.
Damn these narrated documentaries are a banger. Love hearing about this side of history from a Russian perspective. Totally down for more of these if you have more to share. Cheers from the States.
I'm not Russian and I didn't know what exactly went wrong in the Russian transition to democracy. Thank you for this video, and you are absolutely right about that no one is above the law. No one or group is supposed to be overpower within the government. The balance within is to be examined with transparency by the people and the media, which need to be well-educated.
It seems to me that the main problem here lies in the West's attempt to deprive Russia of its subjectivity. In the 90s, there was literally no power in Russia, no one monitored the implementation of laws. This lack of power was filled by bandits, who began to divide the countries among themselves. The lives of ordinary people collapsed accordingly. In the 2000s, we had a normal government, which was already engaged in the development of the country. Later, the West began to implement its plans to rebuild the world in the Russian region: an attempt to withdraw post-Soviet countries from the influence of Russia (support for anti-Russian propaganda in post-Soviet countries, organization of color revolutions), advancing NATO's military infrastructure to Russia's borders (Georgia, Ukraine, etc) to neutralize Russia's defense capabilities and deprive Russia of subjectivity, information propaganda inside Russia to create a government controlled by Russia.
This leads to the fact that society begins to fear because of the NATO military alliance, which wants to completely subjugate Russia. A common misfortune somehow unites society, because of this, people think less about the need to change the government, stagnation begins ... And so on.
At least that's what it looks like to me. It's a pity, of course, that the government is underperforming. If it had worked more efficiently, then our army would have long ago defeated the Ukrainian army and forced Ukraine to sign security guarantees for Russia. And so we are conducting some kind of special operation and Zelensky has not yet been liquidated ...
If you want to know, look up Jeffrey Sachs on UA-cam. He's the man Washington sent to advise Moscow in the 1990s. His answer? USA didn't want Russia as democracy, USA wanted Russia as colony.
@alexrush3857 sure buddy. They have sent billions for the Russian leadership to sort themselves out the oligarchs just asset-stripped the country and some vultures from the West did participate on this BUT damn, Russian corruption, irredentism and misplaced pride made it all the more tragic.
1. It was not transition to democracy, it was transition socialism to capitalism.
2. In the USSR, things were much better with democracy than Western propaganda wrote about it. And better than in today's neo-liberal Russia. In fact, in the 90s there was a transition from a parliamentary republic to presidential authoritarianism with a controlled state Duma. There was a movement in the opposite direction - from democracy to the dictatorship of the wealthy elites.
Wrong guy at the top, since he was not democratic-minded together in a clique with the wrong guys on the top of military and police.
If e.g. the heads of the military would've answered to the Parliament and not Yeltsin, Russian Political Evolution after 1993 would've taken an entirely different course.
I am from soviet block my self but i never heard about such things in Russia. Great and educational video. Thumbs up!
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@@persianman4857 go schizopost somewhere else
Honestly from what I know about Russia, It's history is completely tragic. On the verge of a top tier country so many times, but for one reason or another always implodes
That's what I've Always thought as well, it's a country that either shoot itself in the foot or gets ravaged by some invader.
They have the vastest natural resources in the World. They could do like Norway and elevate everyone out of poverty and become economically very prosperous but inatead corrup system diverts nearly all the money to the elite's pockets
@@jokuvaan5175 You've ever heard of the ressource curse,why do you think some of the world's most successfull dictatorships are in the middle-east ?
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@@persianman4857 Iran circlejerk with 64 subs 😂 Ok dude
To think that this channel got its start doing montage parodies, and singing "nobody can touch my swaaaag!" all the way back in 2014. Growing and maturing with your audience over time. Fastforward to the present day, releasing documentaries covering the turbulent Gorbachev and Yeltsin era of post-soviet Russia, shining a light on this little known period of time in Russian history for a greatful western audence. I'm so proud of you!
a lot of channel started out as sth totally different then it was intended, but great to see they stuck with it and found their audiences
NOBODY CAN TOUCH MY SWAAAAAG
It's actually regressed.
It does bare mentioning that after the craziness of the Yeltsin 90’s, Putin was seen as restoring stability to Russia and the former Soviet republics-even if he was doing it over the barrel of a gun. It’s why a lot of his crimes largely got ignored by the rest of the world and there is positive opinion about him in much of the western hemisphere today even after all he’s done in Ukraine.
It is nice learning Russian history from an actual Russian. Even if Roman wasn't around when it happened, he is at least from the country where it happened and has family and friends that were where this history happened.
I usually enjoy your videos about the common life of Russians, from video games and fast-food to historical facts, from silly shenanigans to food-for-thought. This video is one of your best and most insightful yet, the evolution of the channel is on the right track, I hope you keep up your great job. Kudos to you sir!
Best video yet on the channel! Thorough research, in-depth analysis, entertaining and educational. You state your bias clearly - and yet give enough information on alternatives so the audience can draw their own conclusions. Roman moved up from vlogger to documentarian!
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@@persianman4857 You're repeating yourself and are off-center, Uran!
Outstanding report, Roman!!! I didn't watch this video till Dec 10, 2022, because I'm still catching up with your posts. I recall watching this coup on the news in 1993, but American media didn't really explain what was really happening and why,. Most Americans were given the idea that Communism was a failed evil system ,and they deserved to collapse. Your report paints a clear picture of what took place, and how it eventually led to Putin, who apparently was a good guy at first, until he chose to become a dictator with dreams of restoring the Russian empire. You do good work, Roman!
Youre all right until down
Putin doesnt wants to restore any empire. Man, you gotta understand urgently how people is; isnt like one day you are a common citizen and the next day you wake up and say "I will make a world war".
This war of today is caused because Ukraine broke the Minsk Treaty and declined to accept any new peace treaty with the rebels. What led to Russia to have no more choice than war.
Leave russians alone before you beg them to do so with you.
Restoring the empire? How delusional are you
@@Gagegehris They asked for Alaska back. How delusional are YOU
@@herrforesight-Satanisking where? When? Russia never asked for Alaska back under putin’s tenure
@@Gagegehris Look it up
I remember that in the german media Yeltsin was portrayed as a funny, old uncle and that he maybe an alcoholic but not an aggressive one while Alexander Rutskoy was made out to be the troublemaker. I also remember that for a while it was believed that General Lebed would succeed Yeltsin.
It's because Yeltsin was a loyal puppet of the US, so the West obviously had constant propaganda running in support of him.
The American media didn't take Yeltsin too seriously, either, for the same reasons. The blind faith in "democracy" (however that is defined) led many Americans to think that Russia would eventually emerge as a stable country with a representative government, free speech, free elections, and a robust economy. As a small group of oligarchs started to take over, there was some mention of it, but mostly positive. Capitalists viewed the oligarchs as the few enlightened people who knew how a free market worked, and thus were able to take advantage of the majority of people who grew up in communism and didn't realize what a share of stock in a company meant.
@@texaswunderkind oligarchs and American billionaires are the same thing.
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@@numalesoybea1348 no. American billionaires are often self-made. They invent products like iPhones or PayPal. Stuff people use every day. You can climb up the ladder, even if the president hates you (and belive me Trump hated lots of these people, and yet, American billionaires don't fall out of hospital windows).
In Russia people didn't get rich by their own actions, but had friends in power who gave them control over (mostly energy) companies. In the gas sector you cant get into against the government. You can't simply enter, you need a license. There isn't real competition, but state protected monopolies over each gas field.
Sure, both have a lot of power, but they are not the same
I did not expect this. Roman's english has reached peak fluency. If you submitted this video-essay for an assignment to a western university as part of a course on modern history of russia I would expect you to get top marks.
I mean, he's been speaking lots and lots of English for years now, right? Five years? Six years? Peak fluency will be reached in any language if you just practice and practice and practice. Roman has clearly done that with English.
Roman's english?! Wtf are you talking about? FLASHNEWS: literally everyone can speak English with education and if they wish to do so!😆
@@tnightwolf I wouldn't say that literally anyone can be bilingual in two languages with different alphabets, at least not the the point where it is a laughable achievement when someone is, and it's not laughably common either. His English is great.
@@tnightwolf that's not true.
I am not ashamed to admit I was a Westerner who was ignorant of the real circumstances of that footage of the parliament being attacked. I also assumed those images were from the end of the USSR. It shows me how I have been misinformed. Thanks Roman! I have been educated. I appreciate the lesson.
lol in 10 years from now you''ll be saying that again
You should be ashamed, but I understand the reason why you don't
@@noone-ug8eg No he wont since youre one of the only idiots buying the russian propaganda.
@@jiivee63 why should he be ashamed of not knowing something about a useless country?
I want to sincerely thank you for this very insightful, objective and clear explanation of these regretful events to a global audience. Surely a turning point for the Russian nation. As you mentioned, it saddens (and angers) me so much when supposed leaders toy with the future of an entire country like this, confusing and dividing a desperate population that needs true and serious guidance more than ever. To think that this man not only insulted and viciously attacked this just-founded state at its core, but also let Russia's true potential go down the drain, all solely for personal power, is beyond disgusting. He should definitely be considered a terrorist and a traitor for the immeasurable damage he has caused to the Russian people.
As a Russian who grew up abroad and is being straddled with this absurd conforontation that I should have collective guilt for the actions of the corrupt government of my birth country, I am very thankful for this video, its very educative about the actions of a man (el'cin) who my parents idolized as the first real democratically elected president of my home country, its refreshing to see an unbiased and very truthful video. It pains me to hear about such drastic and terrible times and I understand by each day more and more why my mother tried so hard to leave the country in the 90s. spasibo Roman za eto video, thank you for educating me and the others.
well to be fair the same russians not wanting to take the guilt still want germans to feel guilty for ww2 xD you cant have both mate xD
@@CoL_Drake how do you come to the conclusion it's the same Russians? It probably isn't.
@@CoL_Drake who said its the same ppl? liar
What country do you live in?
And how is it?
@@MarinKa214 I lived between the UK and the Netherlands, both very similar in terms of individualism with good support if you integrate into the society and culture. I felt very welcome as on the surface I guess I look very Scandinavian and am friendly and approachable, personally had very little issues aside from the odd skepticism on by roots. Largely no one cares as long as you aren't a asshole
I remember watching this at the time and just being horrified by what happened. After 89 and 91, this was just absolutely tragic. Yeltsin was a disaster of a president.
Remember his drunken dancing when he was campaigning? Remember him appointing the current president of Russia, seemingly out of nowhere? I member.
Putin agreed to protect Yeltsin and his family from prosecution in return for Yeltsin stepping aside.
Putin was chosen by oligarchs and other powerful people. Berezovsky, Sobchak, etc.
This is my favorite type of video when you are explaining Russian / Soviet stuff . To me, it does not matter if it is movies, political leaders, or whatever. Probably one of your best clips Roman, great job!
Wow! An amazing and eye opening presentation. Thanks for all the effort and work you put into this summary of Russian history. I fear that so many democracies in the world today are in great danger because of apathy among the citizens. Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦
You just taught a teacher quite a lot! Thank you very much for "scrunching" all of this information into a comprehensible story line. Great work!
I wish they'd taught us about *this* when we were learning about Yeltsin during the 90s--the West COMPLETELY undersold just what an absolute dictator this guy really was, as I've learned in the last couple years. You know what we learned about Yeltsin in Canada? "Yay he tossed out the Commies, bit of a drunk tho" and that was it, man. No wonder Putin took over the way he did--Yeltsin laid out the red carpet for him. Thanks for the great video, cheers from Canada, may you stay safe always.
Russia never had known true democracy but the maker of this video have succeeded deceiving you that it did. The following comment was made as a response NOT TO YOU BUT to the video: If you do know that "The Self Aware Unlimited Energy (Spirit/Power) Creator of the Universe from beyond time and space, Limitless in Intelligence, The EternaL EL YHVH (EL of IsraEL and of IshamEL) exists, then you also know that, . . . that "Soviet Parliament" which was full of criminal
communists
that have participated in the genocides Stalin made and every other communist dictator that followed after him, and promoted atheism deceiving that The EternaL "EL" does not exist, have received unto themselves (ironically) their own practice which was "arrests (of political opponents being themselves for a change), murders and genocide promoters" out of their own free will, freely choosing so.
The Eternal,
"EL" allowed for them to receive unto themselves, their own practice of arrest, murders and genocide to happen also against themselves and use one of themselves "Eltzin" to arrest them and dissolve the parliament, the same as The Eternal allowed death to take also Eltzin as well, sooner than otherwise would have taken him. Now they are in the isolation zone of all corruption, sins (evils) and practitioners of such and demons, isolation zone abbreviated h.e.l.l. in
agony
and despair for tens of thousands of years that will feel as "an eternity" until even death and hell with everything that is in it, will also get erased out of existence. You are not right and perhaps without realizing, you practice DECEIT through this video BECAUSE true democracy is not made by murderers and participators (even if indirectly) to genocide, and then later
electing
murderers to form a "Parliament" since such Parliament could be called with many kinds of words but certainly not democratic; since people guilty of genocide directly or indirectly and murderers which belongs to prison or to execution, should not be able to vote and are not qualified to participate as candidates and be voted for, and could not form a "Democratic Parliament". Elzin did not practice democracy but neither that Russian Parliament. Russia have never known true Democracy.
@@MasterCommander. That parliament might have been a little wonky, what with at least two of the strongest parliamentary forces being essentially cronies, political circus to play the role of plurality of political opinions on TV. BUT destroying the power of the parliament sealed the fate of the country for good.
Also what the hell sort of a drug are you on mate, just remind me not to take any of that...
@@SianaGearz But you should take some. Is called angelic star rays. Is worth $1 000 000.oo for as little as an apple's seed, size, or else the size of a grain of rice. Is what the dreams are made of. Is not from the earth. Is from the outer-space. But the only way you could get some, is if you have contact with EL and if you are a lover of the truth. The Truth shall set you free, friend. Free from any kind of slavery that you are in at current time, but at the same time it empowers you to ascend so that if and when needed, your eternal destiny gets sealed with the empowerment to ascend instead of descending in the isolation zone. If you are interested, I could help you get in contact with EL but you should know that it takes time, diligence, a desire to get the empowerment but above all, to trust and become trusted, to love and become loved. The choice to make could only be yours. The offer was made and to get in contact is totally free, is a gift but I've already told you the conditions: are trust and love. The kind that is genuine, holy, everlasting, loyal into ascendance and beyond. It's up to you, and your choice alone. No one could choose in your behalf. You have to choose (or loose).
West has an obvious agenda for sure.
During USSR existence the West would never sthu about USSR and as the collapse and 90s came all the guys who had jobs writing hit pieces in the cold war lost their jobs and the media just stopped reporting on Russia until the late 2000s
@@SianaGearz right. Everyone in there could easily have been voted out. And if it weren't for Chechnya's independence it would have sent communists to the Parliament most likely
Really loving these longer “history lesson” type videos and your narrative style is really engaging, keep at it😊
I don’t know if Yeltsin’s reformed "failed" exactly. If the goal was to eliminate every last trace of socialism in the Russian economy then they "succeeded".
It kinda reminds me of the IMF’s adjustment plans in Latin America − they were never meant to improve the economy but to make it suitable for the concentration of wealth (hence the focus on privatisations and deregulation). It doesn’t matter if people starve as long as the big shareholders are happy, basically. The shock of jumping from a planned economy to that in just a few years only made it more brutal in Russia’s case.
I took a History of Russia class in my last semester of college and I never even learned about this. Granted we focused on the Kieven Rus and imperial Russia but in our 1 class about the 90s my prof didn’t even mention this. This was a super interesting video thanks for making this!
I am surprised that you have studied the history of Russia at all
Obviously had an agenda to.portray post Soviet Russia as the best.ending instead of the excruciating pain ending
Then go to the wiki and see a bit more and especialy about the people who opposed yeltsin ans how ,,democratic" they wouod have been.
Note: i do not oppose any of their views or politics infact i wish they overtrew yeltsin.
If they did russia would a different nation today way different in a very good way.
I took a class in university on the history of russia from the russian revolution until modern day. Sadly these events were not mentioned and my prof was a russian engineer who worked at a science institute during the soviet union before coming to the west and switching to teaching history.
@@ernestkhalimov1007 lmao where i went would be the last place on earth to portray the soviet union in a positive light
Finally a decent video about this. Lot of people don't realize how important was this event for Russia.
*Greetings from the Russian blogger to Russian blogger! 🇷🇺 I hope the day will come when democracy and truth will win in Russia*
Never.. Too much vodka as tranquilizer is available in your country and many citizens seem to need a hard hand to keep values and behavior straight in certain barrier's..
Only with maximum amount and high quality of education will your country transform slowly in the future
What a joke, ruzzia going to hell, you guys doing nothing to change shitty situation, how can you live like that 🤔
🙏🙏🙏
@@kitecattestecke2303 you think that we are some uneducated savages unable to create a democracy or what?
@@kitecattestecke2303 What kind of nonsense, are we all drunks in your opinion? Disgusting comment
This is absolutely tragic. Roman, you made a simply amazing piece with this mini-documentary about the death of Russian democracy. And indeed like you say - you're our "favourite neighbourhood Russian" and I find it's therapeutic to listen to cool and good Russians like yourself, at a time when it's easy to mistakenly think that all Russians are bad considering what's happening in Ukraine and Russians' reaction to it in their own country. Na zdarovie droog!
Wow. I was a young American, but I lived through all this and had forgotten about it, but when you started this video off it all came back. Thank you for making this video
So good you took this on! 👏👏👏👏👏
This is such a great synopsis of some super-complicated years. I’ve tried for a long time to read about it and understand it and this really helped! You’re the best 👍🏼❤️
As an American, I’m starting to worry we’re getting closer and closer to a situation like this. Our political environment is only getting more and more tumultuous and unpredictable, and I worry often that we may see a repeat of January 6, 2021, only on a much larger and deadlier scale.
Thanks Roman. Living the other side of the World in New Zealand and even though I read the newspaper everyday, I never fully understood this story. Being pre-internet didn’t help either. I did freedom travel through Russia in 2019 for 3 weeks but even then I only picked up glimpses of what happened in the early 90s, from speaking to any one who was willing to speak to me in English … one tour guide in Moscow told me quite a lot though.
What Russian cities have you visited?
After all, Russia does not end with Moscow alone, and Moscow is different from other cities.
I would like to visit New Zealand. They filmed The Lord of the Rings there.😊
Not surprising. Many Russians who lived through those times don’t really want to talk about it or even remember the cruel times of the 90s. For many citizens, the 90s in Russia were like a long nightmare.
It's good to see you are perfectly capable of producing videos of much more substance. I remember watching this from the time but you've certainly taught me a lot of the details.
Great video, well done. During these events I was a 24 year old college student watching all this on CNN (cable TV). It was pretty scary to see tanks shooting at the parliament building in a nuclear armed country. The simple narrative we got from newscasters was that President Boris Yeltsin was battling Communists in Parliament who wanted to take the country back to the Soviet system.
I think machinegunning an unarmed crowd at the TV center was far worse than firing on the Parliament. Inside the Parliament, there were no bystanders and people had some warning. At Ostankino, absolutely not.
At 6:36. Yeah, the liberalization of prices ALL AT THE SAME TIME is what led to this horrific economic disaster for Russia. What that meant was that highly inefficient Soviet companies all went bankrupt AT THE SAME TIME, which meant unemployment and underemployment increased catastrophically. So few people had steady incomes. Then liberalizing prices on goods and services meant that everyone was bidding up prices on scarce goods, like food, and scarce services, like health care. So it was a double-whammy, made much worse by the hyperinflation. This is why Russians HATED the 1990s. All the promises of free-market capitalism were totally dashed within a few years, leaving lots of Russians very anxious and extremely angry. Notice that China never did this--prices in the Chinese economy were never liberalized at the same time. They did it very slowly and piecemeal, precisely because they didn't want to shove China into the poor house like Russia.
My grandfather was one of the few lucky people that found work for the large conglomerates (Gazprom specifically), and this is perfectly accurate to what he told me about this time, this also lines up with what my aunt, mother, and grandmother told me about that time. Probably the best video on this topic that I have seen so far
Thanks so much for covering this topic! There is such a lack of information in English that discusses the history of Russia in the 90s, I feel like it is a huge blind spot for most of us westerners.
Philippine democracy is dying again after we ousted a dictator 36 years ago, and it sucks having to witness democracy die, I feel you, Roman.
🇷🇺🤝🇵🇭
What do you mean it died again? This proves democracy works because people can vote for whatever they want, even a dictator's son.
Very good video and summary. Yeltsin is still a very polarizing figure in Russian history. You could argue that Yeltsin did want centralized stability of market economy, but it was all troubled by his own incompetence, love of alcohol, and hardline approach.
Please continue talking about Russian politics. Believe me, we (as in westerners) have had enough of news-reports about Russia, but never from an actual Russian. Keep doing what you are doing. It may be hard, but I love you for it.
"The tank rounds were blanks"
In the same time the half of building got on fire.
yeah, blank means no projectile. such BS claim.
Excellent work Roman! You're on fire!... As venezuelan, you have no idea how much this identifies me! Thank you so much! I'm gonna share this everywhere!
It had also died previously in 1991, when there was a referendum on preserving the Soviet Union as " a renewed federation of equal sovereign republics"; yet this was ignored.
This is a fantastic video Roman, honestly, I'm facinated by Russian history and it's often pretty difficult for us westerners to get a clear idea of how things have unfolded in your country. I believe it's often best to have a "regular every day citizen" break down all the historical events then to have a popular/mainstream news outlet cover these turning points. Great video, very interesting and please make more videos like this!
These "regulary every day citizens" are re-telling you stories they read from the media lol. This guy wasn't even planned when all of this was happening, what does he know? As much as you do, relying on accounts of others.
This isn’t that different from mainstream media; most of it is somebody else’s talking points since Roman wasn’t there when it happened. 😕
@@anastasiya256 Yes he was...
Thank you so much for this detailed history lesson! I remember that some Russian friends also told me once that many people who were escaping from the White House in 1993 via the back entrance were shot (most probably by the snipers), while my sister reported how bizarre it was that a few hundred meters away from the White House the everyday life of ordinary people continued as usual with grocery shoppings etc. (she was studying in Moscow during that time). Furthermore it is also quite ironic that Yeltsin basically only became elected for a 2nd term due to the intense help of PR-experts from the U.S. and huge bank credits from the West, and after the financial crisis of 1998 Putin emerged and was appointed by Yeltsin (without any democratic vote) as the new Czar of Russia, who is now obviously one of the biggest haters of the U.S. (and NATO, of course)... Would be interesting to know what would have happened to Russia and Putin if Yeltsin had lost the 2nd election in 1996 though...
Calling putin a tzar is a s cringe as calling him hitler also whats wrong hating the euand nato they deserve the hate.
Roman, you did a seriously great job relaying this period...much needed as so few really understood what the heck was going on inside Russia then. I am enjoying your channel more by the day! Now a question: I have been following for 6 months but have always had one question: Can you explain to us your little goodbye action at the end of your videos, where you wind your hands and say something like "Peeee...uuuce!" If you ever need an American Babushka, I'm here for you!
He's saying ‘peace’.
It´s his trademark "peace out" gesture
@@bedgegog But it sounds like peeeee...uuuuce!
Susan, you're so sweet Babushka! Have a great day!
roman makes the BEST videos.. goddamn this was amazing. better than a documentary
Way to go man. Bringing history and knowledge to the younger generations around the world. Youre really using your platform for a good cause. These are issues that we must never forget. The why and how behind it all must be retained. If not, we will repeat our mistakes.
I think it is frustrating how the world overlooked Yeltsin sending tanks against his own parliament. Putin didn't come to power in a vaccum. Boris and his cronies set the stage.
What do you mean overlooked? Boris acted with the full support of the United States. The Bush Sr. bluntly said that everything that happened was a victory for democracy. And then the Americans gave millions of dollars to falsify Yeltsin's victory in the next election
@@Lelik_208 I think it is really revolting.
And then Putin upped the ante by creating false flag bombings on apartments just to start a conflict and kill more people just to show that he is a man of action and make him seem powerful.
Когда я услышал как ты произнес Михаил Горбачев сначала подумал: "у этого парня крутое русское произношение". А потом понял что ты и есть русский)
Excellent! I'm really impressed at how well organized and complete this presentation is. I grew up in the Cold War years, curious about this mysterious country behind the Iron Curtain. Watching history being made is so fascinating.
Love your content Roman, been watching you for a few years. It's really incredible stuff for an American to be able to see the flipside of the world without having to go there, so thank you!
This makes me realize how grateful and lucky us Germans were to have such a peaceful transition when the GDR fell apart.
Well it would have been every one on both sides vs Russia army.. The germans raised also for prosperity and unity on both sides.. Not everyone on the gdr side was russianized
Thanks to huge efforts and investment by West Germany to insure the success of the reunion. I remember that it wasn't easy with complaints from both sides.
Because the Germans were smart enough to join together and make it work, whereas the Russians can’t even find find their ass from their head much less run a country.
Isn't it nice having friendly, *invested* neighbors, and a good plan
I lived through these events. But as an American, the presentation was delivered to us in a much different way. We were basically told that if Yeltsin lost, we would be facing a return to the USSR and the cold war. Interesting that it happened anyway because he did NOT lose.
Perhaps it was inevitable either way.
"if Yeltsin lost, we would be facing a return to the USSR and the cold war"
This is true, the 1993 opposition wasn't democratic at all, before the shooting at the White House there was some kind of battle on the streets with opposition forces storming buildings (with firearms, of course). As for why it happened any way, it's because Yeltsin got old and less adequate, influenced by his corrupt family and their associates, and opted to choose a successor that would expressively guarantee their safety
@@tobyalder42 Basically Russia was choosing between fascism and state communism. And the choice was of course made by the man with the biggest guns.
However, even a communist parliament could have been a way to democracy. Robber capitalism is not a solution.
@@57thorns not really, it was still democracy in Russia before Putin. No way communists could bring democracy or prosperity to Russia. They had been failing to bring it for all ~70 years in power. Not to mention that Putin and his subordinates who now rule the country almost all have communist background
I was born in 1992 in Germany, so I don't know what you saw in US News at the time of these events. I can only imagine that they made the quick conclusion "Commies = Bad; Commies protecting Russian Parliament = Parliament Bad, Yeltsin = Good"
@@57thorns... Compromise should have been the way, not sending Tanks at your opponents cuz you're so afraid of trying
As a Canadian born in 1992 I learnt a lot from this. Thanks for sharing Roman 👍
Thanks for this video, it answered a lot of questions I had about this chaotic time. I was in my twenties when these historic events happened and I followed them closely since I was also studying Russian at the time. I remember mostly being afraid that the Communists would regain power, which blindsided me and most of the Western media at the time.
Thanks for this terrific history lesson, Roman. I remember thinking at the time that this was just part of the chaos brought about by the fall of communism and that it was to be expected. We in the West should have paid closer attention.
I was 10 years old. I remember hearing about this. I was worried because I knew that the Soviet Union was a rival but also that we were supposed to be friends now and bad things were happening over there... You know I was 10 so I just assumed Yeltsin was good. Of course, in politics there is no good or bad. There's just materially in your interest or materially against your interest
I had to re-watch the ruble crash infographic three times... 140%?! Thank you for this important video.
I really love your recent videos on the history of Russia, great work 🤍
редко лайкаю видосы, тут сразу поставил, офигенный видос Ромка, посмотрел на одном дыхании
я в ахуе от твоих лёгких
I have a feeling google mangled this translation lol
@@psychedelicpunk5031 they basically said they watched it all on one breath, as in holding their breath in captivation :)
@@pricessLeopard112 "on/in one breath" (it also could be in one bite when it's about the food) in russian means something like a binge-watching. Forgot if there's something similar exists in English.
@@russianvoodoo спасибо, но я то знаю 😂
WoooooooooooOoooooooOOOW dude, I wasnt aware of all of this, since at the same time in Yugoslavia war was going on (I'm from Bosnia). Until this moment, mainstream news/history channel - somehow missed to bring all this to wider audience like my self. Thank you for directing me to these very facts ❤ Jeltzin by this statements u made here - is in wrong.
Thank you so much for this video Roman, as a Canadian this is something I never knew about and by continously watching this new history series you seem to be focusing on I am learning a lot of the deep rooted issues that make me support what you're doing even more
It should be obvious to everyone just how much work you put into this video.
Bravo!
You should consider doing more videos like this one - you're really good at it.
Keep up the great content!
I must say I really like this type of content on your channel. 90's history of post soviet countries is very interesting for someone as me who was born and raised in Poland in this period. Hope to see more videos like this from you:)
Well , i used to have some truly distorted beliefs about that 3vent, and confused it with 1993 , because my country too had a really bad president that brought miners to beat people and kill any opposition , thank for the video dude
Amazingly well done Roman! It's always great to hear this from a Russian instead of from a Western scope - even if the West is largely your audience.
Roman, I love these vids! I am fascinated by Soviet and post Soviet Russia (ty B&B) and your explanations of current events as told by a peer is content worth watching! No pressure, just love all your content!
A* 10/10 video. I never could get a handle on exactly what happened during the coup by Yelstin and you managed to condense it down into 30 mins. Well researched and presented. I wonder what it would take in a post Putin world to dial back the power of the President and return back to a parliamentary system
I just wanted to say that it’s hardest shit to find good background on the story on this site and I really appreciated your take and your work. It’s pretty interesting to look at American news coverage from the time (about the only other vids out there) and how superficially framed it was as Yeltsin, the reformer versus hardline parliamentary communists.