Tag Archives: Boris Yeltsin

Glory Days: Cold War’s End

In December, 1990, a young U.S. diplomat was serving at the U.S. consulate in what was then Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union. He took a trip into the neighboring country of Latvia. The diplomat, George Krol, wanted to visit the Latvian officials who had recently declared independence from the Soviet Union.

Following the astonishing revolts that year against Soviet rule in various Soviet republics, Latvia was among several former republics declaring their independence.

However, even as Krol was visiting, the celebration was cut short. News arrived that a coup of former Soviet communists against Russian President Boris Yeltsin was intent on restoring the Soviet Union. Word spread that Russian tanks were even on their way to Latvia to restore Soviet rule.

As Latvian leaders thanked Krol for being with them at this dangerous moment, Krol realized what it meant to represent America: “To them, I was not George Krol, a young American diplomat from New Jersey, I was America; and America was standing with them in their darkest hour. . . . I thought: I represent the United States of America; I can’t believe they pay me to do this.”

Today, as Ukraine fights back against Russian power in a struggle that was supposed to have ended over thirty years ago, we might revisit what that America is called to be.

May God help us overcome the hatreds that work against what we are supposed to be and what the world has such need of.

Overcoming an Attempted Coup

The picture of Russian politician Boris Yeltsin on the steps of the Russian parliament in August 1991 forever symbolizes his finest moment. He and a few supporters overcame a coup attempt to take over Russia’s first attempts at democracy.

Later, after the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Mikhail Gorbachev stepped down, Yeltsin became president of an independent Russia. He was never again as popular or as successful as in those heady days when he led the successful resistance to the attempted coup.

Eventually, Vladimir Putin took over Russian leadership and followed the path toward dictatorship.

A democracy is difficult to bring about and sometimes difficult to keep, once birthed, even in the United States.

During a hot summer in 1776 in Philadelphia, representatives from British colonies in North America declared their independence from Great Britain. They crafted their new republic with a Declaration of Independence.

As it was being declared, an onlooker in the crowd reportedly asked Benjamin Franklin, “What kind of government do we have now?”

Franklin is reported to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

We may look back on January 6, 2021, as the day Vice President Mike Pence stood down an American version of a coup against that republic.

August 1991

From my job at the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I watched with millions all over the world as a coup attempt played out in Moscow. Were the efforts to finally install democracy in countries of the Soviet Union doomed to failure? Were similar attempts in Russia itself to be overcome?

Mikail Gorbachev had become leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, the youngest member of the Soviet politburo. He had attempted a loosening of the Soviet system, allowing some Eastern European countries to begin breaking away and forming their own governments. He also began instituting changes in Russia’s governance.

However, for a few days in August 1991, while Gorbachev was away from Moscow, hardliners placed him and his family under house arrest and attempted to wrest power away from him.

Countries in eastern Europe, having begun steps toward their independence, watched in horror, afraid that their new freedom would be taken back.

George Krol, a U.S. diplomat serving at a U.S. consulate in Russia was especially concerned. He had traveled into the Baltic republics as they began throwing off the Soviet yoke. Awakening now to the news of the attempted coup, he drove across to Riga in the Baltic republic of Latvia.

He found government officials there watching in horror as Soviet armored personnel carriers threatened their own country. Krol then met with leaders of the Latvian parliament. As they thanked him for being there, he realized, he said “what it meant to truly represent my country.” He was standing with them, as a representative of America in their darkest hour.

The world watched as resisters under Boris Yeltsin eventually overcame the attempted coup, a victory to be savored as former Soviet nations continued steps toward democracy.

No one, however, should think that some sort of ultimate victory was won. Not all Russians were happy to see their empire fading away. Economic hardships ensued for many.

This stage was part of an ongoing story, still being written, as Putin’s attempts in Ukraine attest.

It was, however, a most important step. As Krol wrote, “On that beautiful summer’s day, as I drove with the windows down through the idyllic Baltic country-side, I thought: I represent the United States of America; I can’t believe they pay me to do this.”

Boris Yeltsin And The Soviet Coup

 

Boris Yeltsin, in suit and tie, surrounded by worried colleagues, stands atop a tank in Moscow in  mid-August, 1991, twenty-two years ago this month, and reads a statement.

The recent end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West at the time remained tenuous. Mikhail Gorbachev had become Soviet leader in 1985 and the great draw down of nuclear weapons between the United States and the Soviets began in the years following. Eastern European countries began their movement away from the Soviet orbit in 1989 and 1990. East and West Germany, split since the end of World War II, had united less than a year before.

Now, Russian hard liners wanted to roll back history and reestablish the Soviet Union. They took advantage of Gorbachev’s absence from the capital at that time to attempt a takeover.

Yeltsin led opponents of the coup,  jumping on a tank outside the chief Russian government building. He read from a statement calling on citizens to resist this step backward.

They did, and the coup failed. Gorbachev returned to Moscow. The Soviet Union was dissolved a few months later.

In hindsight, we mourn the turn Russia has taken since then: the chaos that overtook that first stirring of democracy; the return to authoritarianism under Vladimir Putin.

Yet, many dissent from Putin’s rule. They can take comfort in the remembrance of Yeltsin, a man with very human failings, daring to overcome his fear and call on his fellow citizens to resist the return to a dead past.