Russian Timeline

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the USSR on December 25th. Soviet Union ceases to exist.

• Boris Yeltsin (Russia)
• Leonid Kravchuk (Ukraine)
• Stanislav Shushkevich (Belarus)

Eleven republics confirm decision at Alma-Ata.

Annual inflation rate = 161.0%

Shock therapy, a program to change Russia to a free market economy as soon as possible, begins.

• Price liberalization.
• Restricted financial and money policy.
• Privatization.

Chechen Parliament issues a declaration of independence.

CIS members sign Collective Security Treaty.

United States and all four post-Soviet nuclear states sign Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

Russia becomes a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Yeltsin announces mass privatization program.

Last Russian combat troops leave Poland.

Russia ratifies START I, reducing strategic offensive arms.

Yeltsin goes to China and signs nonaggression declaration.

Annual inflation rate = 2,506.0%

At this state-owned shop in St. Petersburg, the price of a bottle of milk jumped from 1.5 rubles to 8 rubles. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Year begins with inflation running close to 30% per month.

Yeltsin and US President George Bush sign the START II treaty in Moscow, further reducing strategic offensive arms.

Vancouver summit marks first formal meeting between Yeltsin and US President Bill Clinton. United States finalizes aid package of US$1.6 billion.

US-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation (known informally as the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission) is created.

Twenty thousand communist supporters gather at October Square on May Day to protest the government's policies.

Parliament annuls presidential decrees on economic reforms. Yeltsin issues decree continuing program.

Former Soviet troops withdrawn from Lithuania.

Land decree permits sale of agricultural land among Russian citizens.

Yeltsin issues Decree No. 1400 dissolving the Supreme Soviet and setting new parliamentary elections for December 12.

Yeltsin issues state of emergency. Army troops enter Moscow and begin siege of White House. Aleksandr Rutskoi, Ruslan Khasbulatov, General Albert Makashov, and others surrender.

Presidential decree establishes right of Russian citizens to own, buy, sell, lease, and mortgage land.

The Russian Army launched an assault on the White House in Moscow on October 4. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Elections for a new parliament (known as the Duma) and a referendum on new constitution held.

Liberal Democrats
(led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky)
received 24% of the vote.

The Communist and Agrarians
(led by Gennady Zyuganov)
received 19% of the vote.

The new constitution was approved by 58% of voters.

Annual inflation rate = 840.0%.

Victor Chernomyrdin is appointed prime minister.

Clinton and Yeltsin pledge that, beginning in May 1994, strategic missiles will no longer be aimed at any country.

IMF loan worth $1.5 billion US dollars will be released.

Yeltsin and leaders of European Union sign agreement on partnership and cooperation.

Russia joins NATO's Partnership for Peace.

Last Russian troops leave Germany, Estonia, and Latvia.

Fighting breaks out in Chechnya.

Ruble crashes on Black Tuesday, October 11. Exchange rate collapses 27%.

Russian Security Council votes to send troops to Chechnya.

Yeltsin announces deployment of troops to Chechnya.

Annual inflation rate = 204.4%

Reconstruction begins on the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It was the oldest cathedral in Russia before Stalin had it destroyed and replaced by a swimming pool in 1931.

Russian troops capture Grozny, the Chechen capital.

The new Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Ruble begins to stabilize as monthly inflation rate falls below 10%.

Chechen rebels raid Russian town of Budennovsk, taking more than 1,000 hostages.

Yeltsin asks for Russian membership in G-7 at meeting in Halifax.

Yeltsin suffers second heart attack in four months.

Minimum wage as of November 1, 1995, is 57,750 rubles per month (US$12).

Russia agrees to join NATO's efforts to enforce Dayton Peace Accords.

Annual inflation rate = 128.6%.

Yeltsin's approval rating stands at 8%.

Russia's membership in the Council of Europe becomes official.

Beijing and Moscow announce "strategic partnership."

Russia and Chechnya agree to a cease-fire, whose terms are immediately violated; fighting resumes.

Amid the ruins of Chechnya's largest city, Grazny, this woman says she has lost her entire family. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Ukraine transfers its last nuclear weapons to Russia.

Yeltsin defeats Zyuganov in runoff 53.8% to 40.3%.

Aleksander Lebed and Aslan Maskhadov sign peace accord in Chechnya.

Yeltsin undergoes successful quintuple bypass surgery.

A third Kilo-class submarine is sold to Iran and transfer of nuclear-reactor technology continues despite Western objectives.

Last Russian combat forces leave Chechnya.

Annual inflation rate = 21.8%.

Yeltsin signs Russia-NATO Founding Act in Paris that creates NATO-Russia Joint Council.

Yeltsin signs a bill making Russian Orthodox the country's preeminent faith, limiting the practice of many other religions.

Patriarch Alexy II is head of the Russian Orthodox church. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Annual inflation rate = 10.9%

IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus says reform in Russia is on track.

Duma committee begins drafting bill of impeachment for Yeltsin.

Remains of Tzar Nicholas II interred in Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.

Russia hits financial crisis.

The Salvation Army provides free soup during a heavy snowfall in Moscow. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Annual inflation rate = 84.5%

Last cosmonaut crew abandons the MIR space station.

Vladimir Putin, former KGB intelligence officer, is confirmed as prime minister.

Second Chechen war begins.

Annual inflation rate = 36.8%

Vladimir Putin is elected president.

Government begins crackdown on MediaMost conglomerate and other media outlets.

Kursk submarine sinks killing all 118 on board.

Old Soviet national anthem is revived.

Chernobyl nuclear plant finally shut down.

Annual inflation rate = 19.7%

Duma passes plan to begin importing nuclear waste for storing and reprocessing.

Putin holds first meeting with new US President George W. Bush.

Russia and China sign friendship pact.

Putin embraces Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Moscow. (AP/Wide World Photo)

Russia pledges to cooperate in global fight against terrorism.