How Yeltsin crushed democracy

[DuctapeFatwa]

Officials and participants today paint a fresh picture of the clashes that began with rioting on October 2 and led to tanks rolling up to the parliament building on October 4. The Kremlin and western governments portrayed the unrest as a liberal regime suppressing angry communist hardliners and rightwingers. Yet 10 years after the bloodshed, in which at least 123 people were killed, Russia is exploding the myth that the crackdown was anything other than a putsch against Mr Yeltsin's political opponents.
The unrest was sparked by his decision in late September to dissolve a parliament increasingly opposed to his economic reforms. He also scrapped the constitution, replacing it with another that gave him near-monarchic executive powers. Rebel MPs, comprising communists, liberals and fascists, responded by barricading themselves into the parliament.

The self-appointed leader of the rebels, the vice-president, Alexander Rutskoi, appealed to Muscovites to come out on to the streets to protest; few did, and it was clear the parliamentary rebels had overestimated their support.

After 10 days of siege, during which water and electricity were cut to the Russian White House, a crowd of protesters attacked police lines around the building. Mr Rutskoi then urged them - together with General Albert Makashov, who led the rebels' armed contingent - to go on to the TV centre at Ostankino, on October 3. It was protected by a group of elite soldiers loyal to Mr Yeltsin. The TV centre was significantly damaged, and stopped broadcasting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1054826,00.html

[Mairead]

1. I think the whole history of that time will show that

Gorby was the real democrat, and Yeltsin was anything but. Gorby started reforms when they were hard--potentially fatal--to do.

[On the Road]

2. Boy, Were These Incidents Underreported

When I have heard references to Yeltsin's shelling the parliment building, I thought it was part of fighting the 1991 coup. This is three years later. I totally missed it.