boris yeltsin president of russia one thousand nine hundred one nineteen ninety nine suffered from heartisease eight years after his resignation he died of progressive cardiovascular and multiple organ failure in april two thousand. in the early nine hundred ninety s. and then you saw yeltsin as a hero in august ninety ninety one he stood at the head of a movement of resistance to places he wanted to preserve the soviet regime he displayed energy and resolution. before long however rumors creeping around moscow were claiming that sharing a banquet table with yeltsin was full with unpredictable consequences. so that really were. when they began pouring into these losses that yeltsin grimaced and turned around and it was those of us in the chorus shaping up there was a sewing table filled with tumblers and girls told us. yeltsin used to drink tea i'll have a glass light of this. then boris yeltsin reached out for six tumblers and placed them on the table and all of the waiters tocome off to the brilliance of what you. are going to drink from these he declared. when the old sim was a young

then boris yeltsin reached out for six tumblers and placed them on the table all the way to try them off. of what you. we're going to drink from v he declared that it was. when yeltsin was a young man he was an enthusiastic and skillful sportsman this helped his career in the communist party in the year olds here he was reputed to be a no nonsense tough administration knew but he would never dare to pull the lever is only. after he moved to moscow to take the post to president quite a few people among his associates were noted for weird practices one of them yuri mountain was a professional psychic. i said it was possible to improve ratings summit so that they would be beyond the reach of opponents would give me forty five minutes of any maintain the status annals and a certain candidate would be elected this is called the management of the collective mind the management of the audience. leaves of the nine hundred ninety six elections president yeltsin was going out of his way to demonstrate that he was physically fit from the term of office he was indeed elected for a second stint bu

as a result of the out and recklessly implemented policies of the pro-west and boris yeltsin so we can continue to see from russia under vladimir putin is a strong russia seeking out influence around the world and been a global player as indeed the united states is as in the u.k. and as in the front seats as well and backs that's the greatest seen in the eyes of western powers of law to be approaching because ideally what they would like to see in many western capitals washington and london in particular is a weak russia a compliant russia russia is dependent on not only i.m.f. so the fact that there could have been. issues of electoral fraud in sunday's presidential elections in russia. is not really it's not really the problem for many western statesmen because no political system in the world electoral system in the world is perfect let's forget let's not forget in the two thousand presidential elections in america large parts of the african american community in florida which prevents it from voting so no electoral system is perfect but the fear the concern in the west is that russ

boris yeltsin was at very low point in his political popularity. the country felt ashamed of him. some people who were close to him felt heartbroken. he was an embarrassment. >> rose: he became an embarrassment. he started as a hero and became an embarrassment. >> that's right. he was ill, he has a drinking problem and he alienated most of the people close to him over the years so he found himself in complete isolation and in extreme fear that when somebody new came to power-- which had to happen-- he would be prosecuted. so he and his inner circle-- which by that point was tiny-- were casting about for somebody who could be appointed prime minister and anointed his successor. and they didn't have a lot of people to pick from. one of the people they found was putin. other people they considered also seemed to be these faceless bureaucrats. and i think we got unlucky that they picked putin and not the transportation minister. >> rose: there's no political class capable of leading now? or not. >> there's no political class because there has been no politics. we have to create one. >

putin has been in power since '99, from the moment when he was appointed acting prime minister by boris yeltsin now, formally he's not the president but in fact he's a kind of czar, autocrat, unfortunately he can not imagine for himself another way of existence. all the ghosts of qaddafi are haunting him and he knows either he will be the president or something unfortunate will happen to him. >> warner: still, what does it say about russian society, do you think, that you've had this incredible opposition movement arise in, at least publicly, just three months. >> (translated): six months ago if you had ever asked me whether this would happen in three months i would have been very skeptical about it. nevertheless, it happened suddenly and it wasn't organized by the russian opposition. putin did this. people took to the streets in their protest to an open and public humiliation which was impossible to endure. to vladimir putin to have falsify it had elections so publicly it was impossible to ignore. >> warner: is there an irony here that the 12 years of putin and the economic growth that occurre