History of the Russian Federation
Post-communist period
Following the abolishment of the communist party in August 1991, and the collapse of the Soviet Union that same year, Russia suddenly found itself independent and democratic, at least nominally. Since then, the country has tried to transform itself into a stable democracy with a marked-driven economy, but has met many obstacles along the way.
The new political system
...Two-chamber parliament, President appoints prime minister and cabinet, has power to dissolve parliament...
The economic transformation
...Big-bang-reform, privatization, new economic oligarchy...
The loss of Superpower status
Although the new "Russian federation" was widely accepted as the Soviet Union's successor state in diplomatic affairs, Russia simply did not have the military and political power the Soviet Union once had. Russia managed to make the other ex-soviet republics voluntarily disarm themselves of nuclear weapons, but the Russian army and fleet were in a nearly non-functional state by 1991. There was no way the government could pay the officers' salaries, and soldiers were deserting in droves. By massive reductions and scrapping of ships, airplanes and tanks, the army is slowly getting control over its spending and organization, but it is by no means as powerful as the Red Army once was.
The constitutional crisis of 1993
In the fall of 1993, roughly half of the Russian parliament members were still not democratically elected, since they had had their seats since before 1991. The parliament, led by the ex-communists, opposed president Yeltsin regarding how the power should be divided between the presidency and the parliament. In the end, Yeltsin dissolved the parliament, something he was not allowed to do by the then-functioning constitution. The parliament refused to accept the dissolvement, and barricaded itself in the parliament builing, "the white house". Yeltsin ordered the presidential security force to storm the parliament, and CNN showed pictures of tanks lobbing shells at the white house. Fortunately, the parliament members surrendered before many lives were lost. A new parliament, although still communist-dominated, were elected soon after. This brutal episode served to prove that Russia does not have a parliamentray democracy, but rather a president-run system, like the USA.
The wars in Chechnya
1994-1996, 1999-present...Putin's takeover on December 31, 1999...
Related topics: History of Russia, Collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechnya
Doesn't this belong in the "History of Russia" article? --Robert Merkel