Putin's Russia flashcards

gorbachev

• Last President of the USSR, served from 1985-1991

• Implemented glasnost and perestroika to attempt to preserve the USSR

• Gave his resignation speech on December 25, 1991

• Often times blamed for collapse of USSR (HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE)

• Culturally, Gorbachev’s policy of glasnost meant a higher toleration of Russian sentiments than of Ukrainian (and other countries’) ethnic identity

• Attempted to restart centrally-planned, non-capitalist economy and failed

yeltsin

• First president of Russian republic from 1991-1999

  Helped lead overthrow of the ussr in 1991

• Refused to align with a party, Top-down leadership style, authoritarian

• implemented economic “shock therapy” on russian economy, worsening the economic crisis at the BEGINNING of his presidency

• His economic reforms did not succeed 

• Was unsuccessful in his ability to lead post-USSR because of his lack of know-how

• Dismisses parliament, writes a new constitution, tips the scales towards the executive branch and takes power away from parliament, sparks the Russian superpresidency

• Passes baton to Putin, sets foundations for authoritarian society

• Aligned with the oligarchs instead of a party and allowed them to prosper

medvedev

• Third russian president (2008-2012) Putin could not run for a third term, Medvedev appoints Putin as his PM, Putin is behind the curtain like the freaking wizard of oz green man

• former chief of staff and deputy prime minister under Putin

• known for his centrist-liberal and technocratic views (perceived well by Westerners) 

• Obama and H. Clinton unsuccessfully tried to form close relationship with him during his tenure

• “ruled in tandem” with putin and deferred to the latter when he decided to return to the presidency in 2012

• Ordered invasion of Georgia in 2008

• Loves twitter (telegram), geeky

• Loves american disunion 

• Loves a little drinky drink every once in a while just to destress and wind down at the end of the day but he doesn't have a problem or anything he has it under control #mood

putin

• second and fourth russian president from 2000-2008, 2012-currently

• former prime minister under yeltsin

• managed to consolidate power by emphasizing russian identity

• helped restore economic prosperity by restoring social safety net

kravchuk

• first president of ukraine and former Communist party boss

• achieved and strengthened formal sovereignty of country

• developed relationship with west bc he from the west Of Ukraine

• able to find common cause with western ukrainians that wanted sovereignty and ukrainian party bosses that wanted regional autonomy and Communist party bosses

• Leaves office peacefully in 1994 UNLIKE Yeltsin (against parliament and new constitution)

• Engineered “democracy by default” of Ukraine in 90s and 00s

kuchma

• Second president of Ukraine (1994-2004)

• pro-Russian, wanted to establish close ties with Russia by re-establishing their economic relationship

• Presidency largely surrounded with corruption from funding from oligarchs

• Responsible for murdering journalist Georgiy Gongadze and there is a recording of him ordering for him to be killed (Kuchmagate)

• Red director, rockets? Industrialization

• Supported Yanukovych in the election following his presidency

• Pushed to use illegal forms of intimidation, assassination, and power due to the limited power held by the Ukrainian executive branch

yanukovych

• Fourth president of Ukraine (2010-2014)

• Was second Prime Minister 

• Rumored to have poisoned Yushchenko

• First ran for president in 2004 against Yushchenko and won, but allegations of fraud sparked the Orange Revolution, in which Ukrainians voted again and Yushchenko won

• Yanukovych wins protest vote against Yushchenko in 2010, becomes president

  • Throws Yulia Tymoshenko in prison

  • Alters constitution for power

  • Works closely with oligarchs

  • Made a sudden decision in 2013 to pull out of association agreement with EU to accept a Russian trade deal, sparking the Maidan uprising

  • Populace irritated by lack of economic development

  • Yanukovych retaliates to uprising with excessive force

• Fled the country in 2014

yushchenko

• Third president of Ukraine (2004-2010)

• Was poisoned (MAYBE by Yanukovych) during the 2004 elections, and ended up winning after accusations of Yanukovych’s win being fraudulent in the Orange Revolution, orange the color of his campaign

• Influence and popularity declined during presidency when he butted heads with his PM, Timoshenko

• Known for his pro-Europe views, had sights set on joining West

• Prime Minister for Kuchma before Yanukovych, former banker, sights set on the west

• Presidency is weak, parliament is strong

• Attempts to create a national identity using the Holodomor, a man-made famine, painting it as a genocide, Ukrainian national suffering and encourage Ukrainians to push back against Soviet influence and Moscow: fails for the most part

zelensky

• Sixth president of Ukraine (2019-currently)

• Actor/comedian, had a TV show about a teacher that runs for President and wins

• Secular, of Jewish ancestry, not a native speaker of Ukrainian but rather Russian

• Suggested he was capable of negotiating a peace with Russia due to this background, failed

• Known for his anti-establishment and anti-corruption views

• Strategy during threat of Russian invasion was to calm general public, assure international community he was not looking to retaliate

• Has since declared martial law and a general mobilization of armed forces

• Has proven to be very telegenic since the war started, stood up to Putin thus far and made great impressions on Western leaders

state socialism

• Non-capitalist system that replaced a competition-based market based on principle of supply and demand with a centrally-planned bureaucracy to manage the economy and supply of goods

• Practiced by the USSR, antithesis of capitalism and free market

• Eliminated competition and private property, in hopes of eliminating class conflict, exploitation, and class differentiation itself, but did not succeed

• Successfully industrialized and urbanized massive country and leveled wealth

• Failed to prevent exploitation or classes and failed to be able to compete with Western countries

• Lasted 74 years: fission bomb

• Ends in stagnation

• Planned economy is essentially the same thing

planned economy

• Goal: achieve communism 

• Economy in which bureaucracy managed economy and the supply of goods during Soviet Union

• When USSR collapsed, switched to a capitalist economy, and Soviet society lacked the entrepreneurial savvy and institutions needed to foster innovation

• Soviet industry didn’t know how to switch from state orders to market demands

• Does not compete well with capitalism because it becomes stagnant

stagnation (soviet economic)

• Period from 1965-1985, in which GDP had slow or negative growth (mid 70s)

• Due to failures in central planning/Soviet bureaucracy

• Complicated peoples’ lives with rationing, so many turned towards black market

• Still had social safety net, were always able to have a place to live for example

• Glasnost and perestroika were implemented in an attempt to get out of period of stagnation

blackmarket (soviet)

• Launchpad for the Wild West entrepreneurs of the 90s

• Economic stagnation in the 70s/80s caused shortages of everything, many people turned to the black market to buy goods because of issues with their rations

• Alexander Smolensky, a Russian oligarch, obtained much of his wealth through the Black Market

• Everybody knows somebody

• Citizens are bitter about having to use the black market, is evidence that the socialist economy is a failure

glasnost

• Political program installed by Gorbachev in 1985

• “openness”

• Opened the government to be more consultative and wider dissemination of information, freedom of speech to generate new ideas

• Largely encouraged Russians to celebrate their culture, language, and ideals

• Allowed non-Russians to begin to think of themselves as separate from Russia, accidentally encouraged Ukrainian nationalism

• Didn’t work, contributed to fall of Soviet Union

perestroika

• Economic program installed by Gorbachev in 1985

• “reconstruction”

• Marked the end of centrally-planned economy

• Goal was to make socialism work more efficiently by adopting parts of liberal economics

• Added to existing shortages and created tensions in USSR, which led to rise of nationalist groups in Soviet republics

• “DECENTRALIZATION” Broke up bureaucracies and created cooperatives to make it more dynamic to pivot faster

• helped contribute to fall of ussr

causes of 1991 ussr collapse

• Economic failures

  • Hyperinflation killing middle class, wiping out savings

  • Economic stagnation triggered a whole series of negative dynamics: mass shortage of goods and services, class conflict, interethnic conflict and a dramatic increase in black marketeering and corruption

• Ethnic conflict

  • Rivalries become more common bc competing for resources bc of economic failures

• Chernobyl

  • Crisis in political confidence

  • Dissidence criticized state and party

    • Led to idea of separatism

privatization (russian)

• Yeltsin team didn’t know how to navigate such a change and resorted to “shock therapy” i.e. shock the economy into capitalism (at the beginning of his presidency) 

• Soviet society lacked the institutions to foster economic privatization including personal wealth, a banking system, and a court system

• People were given “vouchers” to invest in companies, but most people being cash-poor just sold them 

• Entrepreneurs bought these vouchers and spent them on major state enterprises (natural resources), resulting in the post-soviet oligarchs

• In private hands, most state enterprises were bankrupted and cannibalized for short term profit 

• Led to mass unemployment, a collapse of urban service, and the collapse of the productive economy

• More detrimental to the economy than Ukrainian privatization

• Creates a huge rich-poor gap

• Caused people to look back at USSR fondly

privatization (ukrainian)

Ukrainian economic decline worse than Russia’s

• collapse of production——48%; collapse of GDP——64% (US lost 45% and 30% in Great Depression

• mass poverty; no middle class; 2-3% live comfortable lives Ukraine slower to privatize heavy industry; new owners resist market competition and preserve monopolies, state contracts

• emergence of oligarchical power (Rinat Akhmetov, Viktor Pinchuk, Igor Kolomoisky), esp. under Kuchma

• Ukraine not major hydrocarbon or natural resource exporter (traditional gas fields exhausted; limited Black Sea oil and gas; pre-fracking)

• Caused a nostalgia for the suffering during the USSR period– still suffering, but it wasn’t as bad then

• Rich-poor gap

red directors

• Kuchma

• Oligarchs that made their money during soviet era 

• Former communist party bosses, engineers, factory managers

• Well connected business executives who worked for the state

• Fit under oligarch umbrella

• “Winners” of post-Soviet capitalism

oligarchs

• All red directors are oligarchs, not all oligarchs are red directors

• Group of Russian elite, remained financially stable during the economic crisis in the 90s

• Obtained much of their status before the USSR dissolved through government positions

• Profited immensely during Gorbachev’s attempts to liberalize the market, bought properties (factories) sold by the government at fractions of their real value and stripped and sold resources, robbing the communities working in the factories of their social support systems

• “Winners” of post-Soviet capitalism

“wild 1990s”

• Period of relative lawlessness after the collapse of the USSR, “the wild east”

• Violence, corruption, organized crime, not a strong police force to deal with it

• Stemmed from failures of late-stage communism, undermined authority of Yeltsin

• Gives Putin a mandate to crack down when he gets into office, which is what people were looking for at the time

organized crime

• Flourished in the “wild 90s” after the collapse of the USSR

•  Connects to black market, oligarchs, wild 1990s

communist party of the russian federation

• Leader is Ziuganov

• CPSU is banned after coup of 1991, bits and pieces gravitate to KPRF

• Yeltsin sides with reformers so KPRF rebrands as opposition party

• Propose welfare state (with high taxation of oligarchs) that appeals to workers’ rights

• State socialist party, largest party in ‘93 and ‘95

• Have since become symbolic opposition party, not allowed to occupy significant positions

protest vote

• Connects to wild 90s and KPRF

• Many people don’t see a way forward in the country under organized crime and corruption

• Nostalgia for time of the USSR

• Vote in protest to the current regimen

• How Yanukovych weaseled his way into office

yeltsin-era economic reforms

• implementing economic shock therapy

  • Quick switch to stimulate a capitalist impulse in society

  • Affirmed by institutions like Harvard 

  • This fall at Harvard: Sophomore Mark Zuckerberg has a big idea. But he might have stolen it from All-American crew stars Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Will his best friend Eduardo be able to handle the pressure of big business? Will he ever pick up his fuck-you flip-flops from the dry cleaners? Can Mark? Or will it all go up in Crimson flames? Sunday evenings on The CW. 

• market exchange rate of the ruble

• nationwide privatization

• lifting of price controls

• Attempt to rely on oligarchs

• Voucher system 

• Bank default

• Economic depression

  • Caused by poor oil prices

putin-era economic reforms

• Oil value rises

• Crushed oligarch’s power, making them solely economic, which allowed state to reclaim control, made revenues more predictable

• Created a stabilization (sovereign wealth) fund that provided security for Russia with the profits from high oil prices

petrostate

• Gazprom (state-owned gas monopoly)

• Petrostates tend not to invest enough in research and development etc when they can rely on natural resources

• Created a sovereign wealth fund that provided security for Russia (to be used in war), allowing Russia to circumvent bans on imports to Russia 

• Non-industrial, does not innovate 

• Wealth is highly dependent on oil prices

political role of russian orthodox church

• meant to reestablish traditional Russian views 

• Officially endorsed by the Russian government

• Good relationship with Buddhism

• Okay relationship with Catholicism

• Hostile against new forms of Christianity

• Took the place of the Russian “identity” and conservative influence that was present under communism (secular religion) 

putin and the oligarchs

• Quickly took action in the beginning of his first presidential term to blacklist the oligarchs from government

  • Law and order ***

• Allowed them to maintain their wealth but stay out of state affairs, most agreed

• Harsh on oligarchs that spoke poorly of his campaign

putin and law & order

• Centralized power

• Promoting traditional values 

• Chechnya → Chechenifies war by hiring Chechen soldiers/militias

• Goes after organized crime

putin and regionalism vs centralization

• Mimic USSR, superpresidency 

• Growing authoritarianism

the “russian idea”

• Idea of Russian nationalism based on their role in the world, resurgence of national power

• Influenced by conservative values of church, pre-revolution values

• Similar to what Yuschenko was attempting to do in Ukraine

• Rationalizes special operation in Ukraine, reintegration of sphere of influence

• Anti-west, xenophobic, isolationist

1994 budapest memorandum

• Can’t use militant forces against Ukraine  

• Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan return nuclear weapons to Russia in exchange for sovereignty

1997 treaty of friendship

• Russia grants border recognition to Ukraine in exchange for control of Sevastopol

• Great Britain/UK, USA 

• Olive branch to diffuse tensions, give Ukraine greater security before violating in 2014

• Finish dividing Black Sea Fleet

ukrainian “democracy by default”

• Term used to refer to state of Ukrainian politics before 2014

• Due to balance of pro-Western and pro-Eastern interest groups in country

• Political power decentralized in parliament and diverse regions

ukrainian national identity

• Ukrainian made the national language 

• Attempt by Yuschenko, Holodomor, fails

holodomor

• Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33

• Was likely an engineered ethnic genocide by the Soviet government

• Evidence of cannibalism during this time

• Yushchenko’s unsuccessful attempt to parlay Holodomor memory into strong Ukrainian national identity was one of the major failures of his presidency, Putin and Medvedev refute it

• 4.5 million ukrainians starve to death

• Used in Western Ukrainian nationalist campaigns

black sea fleet

• Elite subsection of Soviet navy

• Stationed in Sevastopol in Crimean peninsula in Ukraine

• Yeltsin jockeyed for control of Fleet when USSR collapsed

• Not settled until 1993 when Russia negotiated for better share of ships by exploiting economic crisis in Ukraine

• Source of contention because Russian source of national pride, Ukraine wanted steel

chechnia

• 2 wars in 1990s

  • Chechenifies war by hiring chechen militias

• Law and order brings conflicts to end

• Tried to break away and attract Russian attention and Russia has subsidized it

• Paralyzed country, can’t join NATO because of disputes over territory

abkhazia (georgia)

• Tiny areas that tried to break away 

• Russia paralyzed these countries

• Sent troops 

• Can’t joined NATO because of these disputed territories

south ossetia (georgia)

• Tiny areas that tried to break away 

• Russia paralyzed these countries

• Sent troops 

• Can’t joined NATO because of these disputed territories

transdniester (moldova)

• Tiny areas that tried to break away 

• Russia paralyzed these countries

• Sent troops 

• Can’t joined NATO because of these disputed territories

crimea

• Annexed by Russia in 2014 in wake of Yanukovych fleeing to Russia from Ukraine after Maidan protests

• Geographical benefits → Sevastopol 

• Ongoing debate about if it was Ukrainian or Russian because of amount of ethnic Russians and majority of Russian speakers

  • Was a gift to Ukraine from Russia

  • Considered illegitimate territory

• Had a referendum in which Crimeans vote to join Russia, largely falsified

donetsk (donetsk people’s republic)

• Annexed by Russia in 2022

• Putin claims “genocide” against Russian speakers in these territories

• Separatist movement starts in 2014, which are out of central control

  • Debated if it was grassroots or Russian soldiers

• Originally Ukrainian territories 

• Only Russia recognizes it as independent from 2014-2022

  • Budget paid by Russia

luhansk (luhansk people’s republic)

• Annexed by Russia in 2022

• Putin claims “genocide” against Russian speakers in these territories

• Separatist movement starts in 2014, which are out of central control

  • Debated if it was grassroots or Russian soldiers

• Originally Ukrainian territories 

• Only Russia recognizes it as independent from 2014-2022

  • Budget paid by Russia

impediments to russian economic reform (1991-2004)

• Economic freefall

• Collapse of ruble

• Low gas/oil prices

• Lack of know how. 

• Oligarchs

impediments to ukrainian economic reform (1991-2014)

• Lack of natural resources

  • Lost massive energy subsidy from USSR

• Collapse of production

• Collapse of standard of living

comparison of russian/ukrainian leadership (1991-2014)

• Difference between hierarchy → superpresidency and democracy by default

  • Pro-western and pro-eastern special interest groups in Ukraine

  • Diverse place → instead of centralizing it, the period of strong parliament and weaker president lasts a while!

  • Don’t get a dictatorship because of weaker presidency

nato partnership for peace

•  Makes Russia very nervous, Russia wants regional control of area

• Created amidst security concerns of ???? help

• Guarantee of security against Russia- “Attack against one is an attack against all” Defense alliance

• Georgia in, Ukraine involved in parts

• Russia not strong enough to stop it (is this true?)

ukrainian regionalism

•  Very diverse regionally, historically, etc, dealt w it w/o authoritarianism

russian superpresidency

• Yeltsin’s new constitution limits the power of the Parliament

• Personal power

• Corruption

• Authoritarianism

1993 siege of the russian white house

•  Yeltsin won, made new constitution which shifted power from parliament to executive

1993 russian constitution

• Composed by Yeltsin after he throws out the parliament

• Skews power dynamic dramatically in favor of the executive branch

• Contributes to the creation of the Russian super presidency

1994 ukrainian constitution

• Weak presidency, strong parliament

• peaceful transition of power

• kravchuk and kuchma

1996 russian presidential elections

• Ziuganov likely had enough votes to win, but Yeltsin also likely committed election fraud in order to stay in power

• Yeltsin had over 100% of the votes in some regions

yeltsin’s transfer of power

• Putin, former KGB chairman

• Hope that Russia was becoming more democratic and liberal

• Guarantor of Yeltsin’s system

• Gave Yeltsin a pardon 

2004 orange revolution

• Took place late Nov 2005- January 2005

• Elections in Ukraine predicted to go to Yushchenko, but public cries fraud when Yanukovych takes majority

• Yuschenko falls ill and is rushed to a hospital in Vienna, Austria where he is found to have been poisoned with dioxin, a chemical not produced in Ukraine (but yes in Russia)

• The ukrainian citizens are furious at this and protest in Kiev, force a re-count and Yuschenko wins as predicted

• Pickle is broadcast to western countries and support is given to Ukraine, Ukraine seen in the eyes of the western world as a country that wants independence and democracy for the first time

2012-2014 eu association agreement

• Trying to be negotiated under Yanukovych

• Yanukovych decides last minute to not sign it but instead sign agreement with Russia

• Students protest and Yanukovych unleashes soldiers/police, which made more people go into square → Euromaidan

• Not able to withstand crowds and eventually ran

2014 euromaidan protests/revolution of dignity

• Yanukovych decides last minute to not sign EU agreement but instead sign agreement with Russia

• Students protest and Yanukovych unleashes soldiers/police, which made more people go into square → Euromaidan

• Not able to withstand crowds and eventually ran to Russia

impact russian annexation of crimea

• solidified shift toward ukrainian language and culture for ukraine

• Annexation is successful

• Donetsk and Luhansk break away under Russian control

• Gives Putin first taste of expansion and makes him confident he can do it again, popularity skyrockets

  • Looks for another quick victory in 2022 when he needs it

• Leads to invasion in 2022

• International response allowed them to be more resistant to sanctions bc of sovereign wealth fund

• Developed economic resistance to international sanctions