Question by MUKUND: why did president yeltsin favour vladimir putin instead of sergei stephashin as his successor?
any reasons
Answers and Views:
Answer by Slava T
Stepashin was one of the candidates considered by Yeltsin’s “family” (it’s the euphemism for Yeltsin’s inner circle) along with Borduzha, Aksenenko and some other individuals. The main question for the “family” to make up their minds was who of the candidates would be able to guarantee and secure the “family’s” business interests the best. In this respect Stepashin unlike Putin looked too “soft”. Stepashin (as his time as the Russian prime-minister proved ) from “family’s” point of view was too inclined to compromises. Moreover somebody told Yeltsin that Stepashin was “under his wife’s heel”. It was not cool at all for a person entrusted with the future of the “family”.
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Caleb says
Sergei Vadimovich Stepashin (Серге́й Вади́мович Степа́шин) (born 2 March 1952, Lüshunkou, China) is a Russian politician, current Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation and former Prime Minister of Russia. He was appointed federal security minister by President Boris Yeltsin in 1994. He resigned his position in 1995 as a consequence of the Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis.
Sergei Stepashin graduated from the Higher Political School of the USSR Ministry of the Interior (1973), in 1981 – from the Military and Political Academy, in 2002 – from the Finance Academy. He is a Doctor of Law, Professor, and has a rank of the State Advisor on Justice of the Russian Federation. His Military rank is Colonel-General.
He became justice minister, serving from 1997 to March 1998, and interior minister, holding that office from March 1998 to May 1999, when he was appointed and confirmed by parliament as prime minister. Yeltsin made it fairly clear when he appointed him Prime Minister that Stepashin would only hold the position temporarily, and he was replaced in August 1999 by future president Vladimir Putin.
Stepashin's attitude towards the Chechen conflict was markedly different from that of Vladimir Putin. Stepashin had, for example, presented leaders of the separatist regime in Chechnya with monogrammed pistols, praised the activities of the religious extremists who had taken over several Dagestani villages, and had proclaimed publicly: "We can afford to lose Dagestan!".
Following his resignation from the position of Prime Minister, Stepashin joined the political party Yabloko for the Russian parliamentary elections of 1999 and was elected to the Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament. Later on he resigned his parliamentary seat and became head of the Account Chamber of the Russian Federation, the federal audit agency. He holds his job to date.
Boris Yeltsin stated in 2005 that he considered Sergei Stepashin for his successor for President but was unhappy with his lack of enthusiasm over the First Chechen War.
Most recently, he has been asked by lawyer's for Hermitage Capital, once among Russia's top foreign investors, to investigate what it says was a series of fake tax refunds which defrauded Russian taxpayers of 11.2 billion roubles ($ 382 million), according to lawyers Brown Rudnick in a letter to Stepashin.
Since 2007 Stepashin is the head of the revived Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
krk says
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин, IPA: [vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪr vɫɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn] ( listen); born 7 October 1952) served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move. Putin won the 2000 presidential election and in 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
Due to constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive presidential term. After the victory of his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in the 2008 presidential elections, he was nominated by the latter to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took the post on 8 May 2008.
Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing the rule of law.[2] During his eight years in office, due to strong macroeconomic management, important fiscal policy reforms, and a confluence of high oil prices, surging capital inflows, and access to low-cost external financing,[3] Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase by 72% in PPP (sixfold in nominal),[4][5] poverty decrease by more than 50%,[6][7][8] and average monthly salaries increase from $ 80 to $ 640, or by 150% in real rates.[4][9] Analysts have described Putin's economic reforms as impressive.[10][11]
During his presidency, Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes.[10][12] At the same time, his conduct in office has been questioned by domestic political opposition, foreign governments, and human rights organizations for leading the Second Chechen War, for his record on internal human rights and freedoms, and for his alleged bullying of the former Soviet Republics.
Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy—such as Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokhorov, or Yuriy Kovalchuk, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin—has emerged according to media reports.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] As well as these business connections, Putin has been criticized since the beginning of his first term as developing a cult of personality
White Nights Travel says
Because Putin agreed to all the conditions (only in the beginning, of course). The first thing he did was signing the order that guaranteed Yeltsin's immunity.