When the US swung a Russian election
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“When Yeltsin announced he was standing in February 1996, his chances of success were small. His political movement Our Home — Russia, had only won 10% of the vote in the legislative election of December 1995. The Communist party, headed by Gennady Zyuganov, Yeltsin’s rival for the presidency, had become the biggest party in the State Duma with nearly 25% of the vote and 157 seats (up from 42 in 1993).
A former member of Yeltsin’s team recalled of the real-life events, ‘We managed to create panic at the idea that communism was returning ... queues, shortages of alcohol, cigarettes, soap. Vote, or you’ll lose! God save us from communism! Last chance to buy food! Those slogans worked’ (BBC in Russian, 5 July 2016).
Time magazine revealed ‘the secret story of how American advisers helped Yeltsin win’; its front page carried a now famous caricature of the victorious Yeltsin holding an American flag.
Clinton said, to hell with you, I’m going to put all my eggs in the Yeltsin basket and make it work ... Clinton’s concept was to throw caution to the wind. Be aggressive, deeply involved, heavily partisan, bet it all on red.’
German chancellor Helmut Kohl ... made his second visit in five months. His pro-Yeltsin stance attracted sarcasm from German media. Kohl had earlier said on television: ‘It’s clear that we would have more problems with [Zyuganov] than with Yeltsin, who is a true friend to Germany.’
Clinton also went to Moscow, where, despite his promise to honour the decision of the Russian people, he had difficulty in hiding his preference for Yeltsin; he said in Moscow on 20 April, ‘We hope the Russian people will vote for the future.’
He [Yeltsin] told Clinton on the phone on 21 February [1996] , ‘[I] would like to ask you to use your influence [with the International Monetary Fund] to perhaps add a little, from nine to 13 billion dollars — to deal with social problems in this very important pre-election situation and help the people.’ Clinton replied, ‘I’ll see what can be possible.
Two days later, IMF managing director Michel Camdessus announced a loan to Russia of $10.2bn over three years, with $4bn made available in the first year.
On 29 April Russia persuaded the Paris Club to give it 25 years to repay $40bn of external debt, and four days later, the World Bank granted a loan of $200m to fund social services.”
—Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2019
The full article requires subscription. Here is the rest of the main points:
“When Yeltsin announced he was standing in February 1996, his chances of success were small. His political movement Our Home — Russia, had only won 10% of the vote in the legislative election of December 1995. The Communist party, headed by Gennady Zyuganov, Yeltsin’s rival for the presidency, had become the biggest party in the State Duma with nearly 25% of the vote and 157 seats (up from 42 in 1993).
A former member of Yeltsin’s team recalled of the real-life events, ‘We managed to create panic at the idea that communism was returning ... queues, shortages of alcohol, cigarettes, soap. Vote, or you’ll lose! God save us from communism! Last chance to buy food! Those slogans worked’ (BBC in Russian, 5 July 2016).
Time magazine revealed ‘the secret story of how American advisers helped Yeltsin win’; its front page carried a now famous caricature of the victorious Yeltsin holding an American flag.
Clinton said, to hell with you, I’m going to put all my eggs in the Yeltsin basket and make it work ... Clinton’s concept was to throw caution to the wind. Be aggressive, deeply involved, heavily partisan, bet it all on red.’
German chancellor Helmut Kohl ... made his second visit in five months. His pro-Yeltsin stance attracted sarcasm from German media. Kohl had earlier said on television: ‘It’s clear that we would have more problems with [Zyuganov] than with Yeltsin, who is a true friend to Germany.’
Clinton also went to Moscow, where, despite his promise to honour the decision of the Russian people, he had difficulty in hiding his preference for Yeltsin; he said in Moscow on 20 April, ‘We hope the Russian people will vote for the future.’
He [Yeltsin] told Clinton on the phone on 21 February [1996] , ‘[I] would like to ask you to use your influence [with the International Monetary Fund] to perhaps add a little, from nine to 13 billion dollars — to deal with social problems in this very important pre-election situation and help the people.’ Clinton replied, ‘I’ll see what can be possible.
Two days later, IMF managing director Michel Camdessus announced a loan to Russia of $10.2bn over three years, with $4bn made available in the first year.
On 29 April Russia persuaded the Paris Club to give it 25 years to repay $40bn of external debt, and four days later, the World Bank granted a loan of $200m to fund social services.”
—Le Monde Diplomatique, March 2019