Boris Minayev’s book about the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, with a foreword by Vladimir Putin is to be brought out by the Molodaya Gvardiya Publishers at the end of August. Some time before that, the magazine Ogonyok published excerpts from the book and Putin’s address to readers. Here is what the prime minister wrote about the first president of Russia:
For the reader
Vladimir Putin
Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, was a truly great man. Even his most consistent opponents have to admit that some of his human values would do credit to any politician. He never shifted his responsibility to others and met challenges openly and even daringly. Everything he did, he did passionately, giving himself to the cause completely.
Neither we nor even our children will be able to correctly assess the contribution made by Russia’s first president. The scale of the reforms in the late 20th century was so large that only future generations will be able to get a proper perspective of his accomplishments.
Contemporaries cannot be objective about what they witnessed. Likewise, I cannot view Boris Yeltsin objectively as I was part of his team for several years. I have said more than once that when his presidential term was coming to an end, I envisioned a different future for myself. But what happened, happened. It was a once-in-a-lifetime choice, and I made it thanks to Yeltsin.
I remember the day when Russia’s first president left the post. Yeltsin had made his parting video address to the nation, bidding good-bye to everyone with whom he had worked in the Kremlin, and talked with Patriarch Alexy II. When he was leaving the Kremlin, walking heavily and slowly, he stopped by his car, looked at me and said: “Take good care of Russia.”
These words must go down in history and become the main message for those who take this high office. They need not be said out loud, but each president accepting or leaving the post must remember Yeltsin’s words, “Take good care of Russia.”
Larisa Kaftan