Yumashev and the Predetermined Presidency of Vladimir Putin
A 1999 cable, summarized in an archival finding aid, captures the moment the Kremlin began coaching the U.S. on the managed ascent of a former intelligence officer.
By Marcus Boone ·
Kremlin
Yeltsin's own council saw 1996 victory "nullified" by Chechnya
Boris Yeltsin's security apparatus monitored his own advisors as they weighed "constitutional" ways to remove him following the December 1994 invasion of Chechnya.
By Desmond Okafor ·
Putin praised Soviet nuclear efficiency where failures were shot
A 2000 Kremlin dinner showed the early courtship of a leader who admired Stalinist executions, while the official government record of the talk remains classified.
By Eleanor Voss ·
Putin praised U.S. air strikes as "giving them what they deserved"
For years, a private Kremlin exchange remained hidden in which Vladimir Putin cheered U.S. air strikes as deserved retribution and called Georgian authorities "idiots and chickens."
By Harlan Pryce ·
Vladimir Putin Threatened Bill Clinton With Asymmetrical Response
Bill Clinton was warned that Russia would respond asymmetrically to U.S. missile defense plans during a 2000 Kremlin session where Vladimir Putin also proposed the two men switch places.
By Eleanor Voss ·