The Soviet Union broke up more because of Gorbachev than anything else. It was that single man alone who destroyed the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev’s buzzwords then were GLASNOST which meant openness that allowed greater freedom of speech and information & PERESTROIKA which meant restructuring that involved in reforms to the Soviet Economy.
These policies of his were aimed at making the Soviet Union better, but instead they led to its disintegration and dissolution.
There were shortages of consumer goods in the Soviet Union at that time, no doubt but not anything else.. therefore Perestroika was very much needed by them for making everything freely available.
But the blunder Gorbachev had done was to simultaneously bring in Glasnost.
When the economy undergoes a big structural change from a communist state-controlled economy to a democratic one, there would initially be chaos and unless that transition takes place under a firm hand, there is bound to be a setback for the state.
Instead of doing that Gorbachev simultaneously went for Glasnost, another radical reform, that of freedom of expression.
The combination of those both resulted in a Molotov cocktail that exploded in the face of the Soviet Union.
With structural change shortages increased exponentially and there were queues for everything.
The basic premise of Gorbachev of bringing both together was totally wrong. There is nothing wrong in liberalizing the economy, but it is most short sighted not to estimate the chaos the transition may create. bringing in Glasnost simultaneously is a most bull headed idea anyone could have had.
The Soviet Bloc of countries was East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
The Soviet Union had control over these countries and put up puppet governments there.
Uprisings of the people in East Germany in 1953, Hungary in 1956 & Czechoslovakia in 1968 was put down by the governments with the support of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union alone had a population of 286 million as per the 1989 census. The other Soviet bloc countries together had a population of 110 million in 1989.
That means the Soviet Bloc as a whole had a population of 396 million while the US then only had a population of 250 million.
Firstly Gorbachev let the Soviet bloc countries go free as they wished without militarily intervening as they broke away.
Then he went a step ahead and let the Soviet Republics break away and did not use the military to stop them.
When they broke away he tried to form a union of the Republics of the USSR which failed miserably.
As the economy crumbled and the Republics broke away, the end of the Soviet Union had arrived and as he had no choice this destroyer resigned in Dec 1991.
For this work of his destroying their most powerful foe and turn it into a chaotic nation, the West gladly and gratefully awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
If there is a most undeserving Nobel Prize, this is one. This guy smilingly destroyed his country. It is coincidental that Gorbachev was partly Ukrainian.
Would we let Kashmir break away and keep our army in the barracks? That was what Gorbachev did. He should be called the butcher of the Soviet Union who cut the country into pieces.
Boris Yeltsin became the first President of Russia after Gorbachev quit, but by that time the rot that was unleashed by Gorbachev had set into the system and there was no coming back.
Incidentally in the Presidential election Yeltsin secured 57% of the votes cast while Gorbachev’s preferred candidate Nikolai Ryzhkov got just 16% votes. However, the forces unleashed by Gorbachev continued to rock Russia.
What Gorbachev achieved was the following:
GDP decline in post-Soviet nations was substantial and averaged roughly 51%. From 1990 to 2000, GDP decline of Republics shown below:
63% in Armenia
60% in Azerbaijan
35% in Belarus
35% in Estonia
78% in Georgia
41% in Kazakhstan
50% in Kyrgyzstan
51% in Latvia
44% in Lithuania
63% in Moldova
40% in Russia
50% in Tajikistan
48% in Turkmenistan
59% in Ukraine
This is what has happened to Russia and the other Soviet states because of the breakup.
Gorbachev very successfully impoverished and finished off the Soviet Union as no US President ever could.
Russia under Boris Yeltsin faced catastrophic economic deterioration: hyperinflation, production drop and poverty, rising crime, political chaos, rampant corruption and decline in living standard’s which led to widespread public disillusionment.
Yeltsin followed Gorbachev’s footsteps. While Gorbachev destroyed the Soviet Union, Yeltsin did the same to Russia. It is like Russia jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
The Russian GDP sank by about 50% during his tenure and had all the ills mentioned above.
Putin was the de facto ruler of Russia since the year 2000. Out from the chaos created by Yeltsin came Putin.
He became PM of Russia in 1999 under Yeltsin and when Yeltsin resigned became the de facto ruler.
He got elected as the President in the year 2000 and was re-elected in 2004.
As the Presidential tenure cannot cross 2 consecutive times, he became the PM in 2008 under Dmitry Medvedev and was re-elected President in 2012.
During Putin’s first Presidential tenure, the Russian economy grew at an average rate of 7% which was truly welcome after the mess created by Yeltsin.
But during Putin’s Presidentship, the Russian political system has transformed into an authoritarian dictatorship with a personality cult.
Charges of corruption and human rights violations had been there as well as intimidation and censorship of media. However, Russia sank into the quagmire of corruption during the tenure of Yeltsin himself and that merely continued under Putin.
However, Putins greatest achievement had been to steady a Russia that was rapidly going downhill at a fast rate both in law and order, poverty and on the economy.
Russia’s GDP had been USD 517 billion in 1991. From there it dropped to 195 billion USD in 1999. Looking at that, one can see how Russia has fallen into a horrible hole.
Currently the Russian economy performs far better than it did before. Unequivocally the credit for that goes to Putin.
Russia desperately needed a strong man in 1999 and Putin fit the bill perfectly. For any country, lawlessness, decline in economy and increase in poverty are far worse than a dictatorship that can deliver on the economy.
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