Yevgeny Primakov, who was Russian prime minister until he was summarily dismissed by President Boris Yeltsin in May 1999, announces that he will lead Yuri Luzhkov’s Fatherland-All Russia party for the upcoming Duma elections in December. Polls indicate Primakov is the country’s most trusted politician. He has demonstrated his willingness to investigate corruption. The Primakov-Luzhkov alliance threatens the Kremlin’s plans for a political succession that would protect Yeltsin’s entourage after the next presidential elections, scheduled for June 2000. But in an attempt to re-assure the Kremlin, Primakov proposes a new law guaranteeing “full security and a worthy life” to presidents after they leave office. Reports the New York Times: “That last proposal was an obvious olive branch to Mr. Yeltsin and his presidential administration, whose increasingly desperate battle to influence the choice of a presidential successor is widely thought to be driven by concern for their own future.” [New York Times, 8/18/1999]
December 19, 1999: Pro-Kremlin Parties Win Parliamentary Elections
A coalition of pro-government parties unexpectedly wins elections to the Duma, the Russian parliament. The Chechnya War, according to all observers, was the main factor in turning the electorate in the Kremlin’s favor. “The Chechen war—loudly criticized in the West for its brutal bombardments of civilians—has galvanized Russian public opinion and, according to most political experts, turned the national debate away from a search for social stability toward an endorsement for a strong state, headed by a strong leader. That shift in the national mood has been answered by [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin”, says the New York Times. [New York Times, 12/20/1999] In addition, during the campaign, the opposition led by Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, and Yevgeny Primakov, a former prime minister removed from office by President Yeltsin in early 1999, was pummeled by hostile media reports from pro-Kremlin news organizations, in particular Boris Berezovsky’s ORT television network. [New York Times, 12/15/1999]
September 9, 2001: Russian President Putin Warns President Bush about a Possible Imminent Terrorist Event
Russian President Vladimir Putin warns President Bush that a terrorist event that has been “long in preparation” may be about to happen. Putin calls Bush with an urgent message. He says General Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan’s anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, has been assassinated (see September 9, 2001). [Stent, 2014, pp. 62-63] The goal of the assassins, he says, was to weaken the Northern Alliance. [Primakov, 2004, pp. 77] He also warns Bush that the assassination may be a precursor to something bigger. Russian intelligence authorities have concluded that it could signify the beginning of a broader terrorist campaign and, he says, he has “a foreboding that something [is] about to happen, something long in preparation.” [Stent, 2014, pp. 63] He says that “further action of this kind could be expected from the Taliban.” Bush agrees to Putin’s proposal for a deputy-level foreign affairs meeting on Afghanistan between the US and Russia. However, he seems indifferent to the warning. “[H]is overall reaction indicated that he did not fully grasp the seriousness of the issue,” Yevgeny Primakov, a former Russian prime minister who is now an adviser to Putin, will later write. [Primakov, 2004, pp. 77] Putin will be the first world leader to try to reach Bush in the hours following the terrorist attacks on September 11 (see Between 10:32 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. September 11, 2001). “I didn’t allow myself to say, ‘We did warn you about this,’” he will subsequently comment. [Baker and Glasser, 2005, pp. 122]
