i just don't know what we're going to do. >> president boris yeltsin was in charge, but he seemed increasinglyhis drinking. he's barely being propped up. >> russians began calling for a new leader. >> they're tired of the embarrassment of yeltsin. >> waiting in the wings was vladimir putin. he had taken a job in moscow in the kremlin hierarchy, and he had risen through the ranks with lightning speed. >> from city bureaucrat to kremlin super star. >> he had just become acting prime minister when it became blindingly clear the country needed a new president. >> yeltsin was ready to topple over, and they settled on putin because they knew yeltsin could retire and not be put in jail. >> boris yeltsin was notoriously corrupt, but kremlin power brokers wanted to protect him. >> so a deal was made. a deal was made. ♪ >> december 31st, 1999. >> the surprise announcement from boris yeltsin that he is resigning as president and turning over power to his prime minister, vladimir putin. >> in the very first moments of the 21st century, vladimir putin became president of russia. his first words? "we live i

i just don't know what we're going to do. >> president boris yeltsin was in charge, but he seemed increasingly ♪ >> his drinking. he's barely being propped up. >> russians began calling for a new leader. >> they're tired of the embarrassments of yeltsin. >> waiting in the wings was vladimir putin. he had taken a job in moscow in the kremlin hierarchy, and he had risen through the ranks with lightning speed. >> from city bureaucrat to kremlin superstar. >> he had just become acting prime minister when it became blindingly clear the country needed a new president. >> yeltsin was ready to topple over, and they settled on putin because they knew yeltsin could retire and not be put in jail. >> boris yeltsin was notoriously corrupt, but kremlin power brokers wanted to protect him. >> so a deal was made. a deal was made. ♪ >> december 31st, 1999. >> the surprise announcement from boris yeltsin that he is resigning as president and turning over power to his prime minister, vladimir putin. >> in the very first moments of the 21st century, vladimir putin became president of russia. his first words? "we

i just don't know what we're going to do. >> president boris yeltsin was in charge, but he seemed increasingly> his drinking. he's barely being propped up. >> russians began calling for a new leader. >> they're tired of the embarrassment of yeltsin. >> waiting in the wings was vladimir putin. he had taken a job in moscow in the kremlin hierarchy, and he had risen through the ranks with lightning speed. >> from city bureaucrat to kremlin super star. >> he had just become acting prime minister when it became blindingly clear the country needed a new president. >> yeltsin was ready to topple over, and they settled on putin because they knew yeltsin could retire and not be put in jail. >> boris yeltsin was notoriously corrupt, but kremlin power brokers wanted to protect him. >> so a deal was made. a deal was made. ♪ >> december 31st, 1999. >> the surprise announcement from boris yeltsin that he is resigning as president and turning over power to his prime minister, vladimir putin. >> in the very first moments of the 21st century, vladimir putin became president of russia. his first words? "we live

a deal was made. >> reporter: december 31, 1999. >> the surprise announcement from boris yeltsin thatident and turning over power to his prime minister, vladimir putin. >> reporter: in the very first moments of the 21s century, vladimir putin became president of russia. his first words? [ speaking russian ] >> reporter: we live in a competitive world and we are not among its leaders. and right away, putin began to change his country. he joined soldiers on the front lines of the war in chechnya. he reassured russians that better times were ahead. >> translator: i think we'll get paid and we'll have work. >> reporter: the country quickly fell in love with vladimir putin. the number one song in russia was called "a man like putin." ♪ >> he's just very -- he's a beautiful man, you see? ♪ >> reporter: but the biggest surprise? america also loved vladimir putin. president george w. bush thought he'd found a kindred spirit. >> i looked the man in the eye. i found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. i was able to get a sense of his soul. ♪ >> reporter: even hollywood fell for the

military coup and when they locked them in for three days it wasn't actually gorbachev it was boris yeltsin and the president of the russian republi republice he was already so weak government of power anticipated the needed more control but several months later meeting with the president, they decided to abolish and had no tools yet going back to my initial question if the beijing consensus and a couple of quotes they argued is a traitor to welcome the business classes and the chinese communist party. his son said my father thinks that he is an idiot and that is popular interpretation today. why, nobody was a real man that could resist. the chinese party was more interested and they were not willing to racist so of course you go to beijing and there's increasing talk abouthere isincs looking toward russia as a model for how to evolve the process today so a strong idea remains alive and well in beijing. i hope what i've suggested is that the comparison between china and russia are the soviet union but the vast differences in the politics, so in the soviet union the interest groups were stro

. >> did americans interfere in the 1996 election in russia trying to get boris yeltsin reelected? not saying any are good. >> me neither. >> gambling going on in the casino. >> criminal acts. wrong if we intervened in russia but shouldn't sit back. >> so should have a special committee to investigate and put people in jail who can be found guilty if there's enough. >> saying should be investigation but shouldn't be surprised that russia tried to intervene? >> absolutely. >> trying to follow you. >> in the same article in which he coined the term cold war, george orwell said that history of civilization is the history of weaponry. the digital era gives all kinds of new weapons. before used communist party placards to no effect. it's different era and need to talk to them for rules of engagement about cyberwarfare. >> maybe be the reality but what we should expect from a president of the united states is to be offended by it. i don't think we've seen that from donald trump or the people around him. first of all keep denying it happened in the first place. claiming that intelligence

boris yeltsin the first democratically elected and allegedly corrupt president of the new russia wasunning out of time. he decided to anoint a trusted successor someone who will protect him from prosecution, he turned to his spy master, the quiet man without a face. putin seemed loyal and capable. one of his first act was to grant yeltsin full immunity. putin had his own goals, he was going to reclaim russia's lost glory. for 17 years, he's ruled russia with an iron hand and projected russian power all over the world, suppressing muslim separatists with a bloody war in chechnya, invading georgia, annexing crimea and supporting rebels in eastern ukraine. multiple fronts but one objective -- putin wants to regain what russians call the old soviet sphere of influence. so while they're not talking about president trump on the airwaves anymore, instead they're talking about president putin. a year from this month russia will go to the polls and although he hasn't announced his candidacy, many people expect in this country that vladimir putin will run again for another six-year term. >> 5:

boris yeltsin the first democratically elected and allegedly corrupt president of the new russia wasunning out of time. he decided to anoint a trusted successor someone who will protect him from prosecution, he turned to his spy master, the quiet man without a face. putin seemed loyal and capable. one of his first act was to grant yeltsin full immunity. putin had his own goals, he was going to reclaim russia's lost glory. for 17 years, he's ruled russia with an iron hand and projected russian power all over the world, suppressing muslim separatists with a bloody war in chechnya, invadinggeorgia,an annexing crimea and supporting rebels in eastern ukraine. multiple fronts but one objective -- putin wants to regain what russians call the old soviet sphere of influence. so while they're not talking about president trump on the airwaves anymore, instead they're talking about president putin. a year from this month russia will go to the polls and although he hasn't announced his candidacy, many people expect in this country that vladimir putin will run again for another six-year term. >> 5

it was the last couple of weeks of boris yeltsin presidency. december 20 is the day of the annual commemoration astonishingly of the founding of the bolshevik secret police in 1970. still officially marked in russia. and on the day mr. putin did two things. in the morning he unveiled a memorial plaque to his mentor jerry and drop off, the longtime soviet kgb chairman best of establishing a special director within the kgb into targeting and suppressing dissent. and also for authorizing the practice of punitive psychiatry when dissidents were declared mentally insane and committed to psychiatric hospitals. and that same evening he went to gathering of kgb veterans and the address them and he told them publicly this in front of tv cameras with a smile on his face. he said i can report to you that a group of fsb officer sent to us undercover in the government of the russian federation is a filling its mission. and there were still some of the time i thought this was a quite joke. of course every single thing mre done since then has been fully in li

russian colleagues set up in moscow carnegie center and we were all watching the dramatic events as boris yeltsin killed off communism of the soviet union broke up, the first chechen war was waged, and many other events that were pretty fascinating for a reporter and for any observer from the west. he was already one of the most astute observers of the moscow scene, an, and we journalists as sounded approachable and quotable, as i'm sure you will today. as another american journal since also there earlier in those rough days, david remnick of "the new yorker" says moscow at that time was a pageant, irresistible to anyone with even a trace of democratic idealism and fellow feeling for the russians the essence of historical drama was unmistakable. there was a much human tragedies to be seen but reasons for hope, and we all debated. i'm sure you did with your colleagues, could russia finally throw off autocratic sluggish government? wasn't there a real change in the offing? it seemed that might happen. because a friend of russia and of russians, ambassador mcfaul, then mike mcfaul worked overtime to

we were watching the dramatic events as boris yeltsin killed off coming as an, the first -- off communismthe first chechen war. important events from any observer from the midwest. he was one of the most astute observers of the moscow seen. we found him approachable and quotable, as i am sure you will today. as an american journalist "moscowhose rough days, at that time was a pageant, irresistible to anyone with a trace of democratic idealism for the russians. the sense of historical drama was unmistakable. there was human tragedy, but reasons for hope too." we all activated, could russia finally throw off autocratic thuggish government? it seemed that might happen. mike mcfual work for reforms. we did not think it would be great, but it would be possible. it was not to be. by the time ambassador mcfaul went to moscow in 2012, his efforts wered doomed to fail. in the second term of vladimir putin, he invaded crimea and sent little green men into eastern ukraine. the kremlin decided wrongly that ambassador mcfaul was an intelligence officer. so he was followed, measured, and patrick. open

russian colleague set up the moscow carnegie center and we were all watching the traumatic events as boris yeltsin killed off, the first chechnya and war was waged, and many other events were pretty fascinating for a reporter and any observer from the west. he was already one of the most astute observers of the moscow scene and we journalists found him approachable and quotable, as i'm sure you will today. as another american journalist also there earlier in the rough days, david of the new yorker says moscow was a pageant, irresistible to anyone with a trace of democratic idealism. the sense of historical drama was unmistakable. there was a human tragedy to be seen but reasons for hope. , could russia finally throw off auto credit government? was there a real change? ambassador mcfaul worked overtime to encourage reforms. we knew it wouldn't be easy or quick that we thought it might be possible. by the time ambassador mcfaul went to moscow, his best efforts were doomed to fail. in the second term of vladimir putin as president invaded crimea and sent little green men to eastern ukraine. with a ta

russian colleague set of the moscow carnegie center, and we were all watching the dramatic events as boris yeltsinilled off communism, the soviet union broke up, the first chechen war was waged, and many other events that were pretty fascinating, certainly for a reporter and any observer from the west. he was already one of the most astute observers of the moscow scene, and we journalists always found him approachable and quotable, as i'm sure you will today. as another american journalist was also there a little earlier but in those rough days, period, david remnick of "the new moscow at that time was a hedge, irresistible to anyone with even a trace of democratic idealism and a sense of fellow feeling from the russians. the sense of historical trauma was incredible. we all debated, i'm sure you did with your colleagues, could russia finally throw off autocratic, thuggish government? was there a real change in the offing here? it seemed that might happen. as a friend of russia and russians, ambassador mcfaul, mcfaul, worked overtime to encourage reforms. we knew it wouldn't be easy or quick, but

what boris yeltsin was doing versus putin, rather different. we had andre out at stanford a couple of weeks ago and i just think now that we know the outcome, this happens a lot. as i write my own account of this, i'm trying to guard against it. like, you know, i like to use the sports analogy because i love sports, i love stanford sports. in fact, i'll tell you a concrete game. last weekend, sorry to bore you with local trivia. but we played one of the best teams in the country, oregon. we were down by 2 with 7 seconds left. threw the ball into our best player and he fumbled the ball and we lost. and after we lost, as we're walking out, all of these friends of mine, including one former, i shouldn't name people, but people that you'd think would not be so obsessed with basketball, they're obsessing, why did we lose?