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 RussiaPutin's Rise to PowerIn a decision that took Russia and the world by surprise, Boris Yeltsin
resigned on Dec. 31, 1999, and Vladimir Putin became the acting
president.
In Feb. 2000, after almost five months of fighting, Russian troops
captured Grozny. It was a political as well as a military victory for
Putin, whose hard-line stance against Chechnya greatly contributed to his
political popularity.
On March 26, 2000, Putin won the presidential election with about 53%
of the vote. Putin moved to centralize power in Moscow and attempted to
limit the power and influence of both the regional governors and wealthy
business leaders. Although Russia remained economically stagnant, Putin
brought his nation a measure of political stability it never had under the
mercurial and erratic Yeltsin.
In Aug. 2000 the Russian government was severely criticized for its
handling of the
Kursk
disaster, a nuclear submarine accident that
left 118 sailors dead.
Russia was initially alarmed in 2001 when the U.S. announced its
rejection of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972, which for 30 years
had been viewed as a crucial force in keeping the nuclear arms race under
control. But Putin was eventually placated by President George W. Bush's
reassurances, and in May 2002, the U.S. and Russian leaders announced a
landmark pact to cut both countries' nuclear arsenals by up to two-thirds
over the next ten years.
On Oct. 23, 2002, Chechen rebels seized a crowded Moscow theater and
detained 763 people, including 3 Americans. Armed and wired with
explosives, the rebels demanded that the Russian government end the war in
Chechnya. Government forces stormed the theater the next day, after
releasing a gas into the theater that killed not only all the rebels but
more than 100 hostages.
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