Boris Yeltsin
The botched coup that presaged the end of the Soviet Union
In August 1991, Vladimir Kryuchkov, the head of the KGB, attempted to oust President Gorbachev. But the plot’s failure was guaranteed when the army refused to fire on protestors
The ultimate gamble
This is an important and topical book. Mary Sarotte traces the difficult course of Russia’s relations with Europe and the…
Gorbachev’s failed experiment
Thirty years ago the Soviet Union was guttering to its close. Those of us who were there remember the exhilarating…
America’s Yeltsin moment
The end of the Cold War was as great a shock to US politics as it was to the Soviet Union’s. The…
