Yeltsin Quotes & Sayings

A sense of proportion and humanitarian action are not issues for terrorists. Their aim is that of killing and destroying. — Boris Yeltsin

The West has not lived through totalitarianism, with a single ideology for 70 years.We are escaping from the burden of the past, and onlyafter we have done that will we be ready to integrate with Europeand Europe needs Russia. — Boris Yeltsin

I am convinced that the moment is coming when, with its message of eternal, universal values, it will come to the aid of our society. For in these words: "Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," lie those very moral principles that will enable us to survive even the most critical situations. — Boris Yeltsin

What do you think it's worth, Lassiter, finding and returning the priceless heritage of a nation?" "How about a Boy Scout merit badge and a thank-you note from Yeltsin?" Above us, — Paul Levine

Thousands of mercenaries, who have trained in camps on the territory of Chechnya as well as come in from abroad, are actually preparing to impose extremist ideas on the whole world. — Boris Yeltsin

Russia also declared its independence. This was approved by the Supreme Soviet, and you know and remember that there was the Declaration on the Independence of Russia. — Boris Yeltsin

We want peace and a political solution to the situation in Chechnya. — Boris Yeltsin

I ask you to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people who believed that we would be able to jump from the totalitarian past into a bright, rich and civilized future in one go. — Boris Yeltsin

I will not step down, I will not resign, ... I will work to the end of my term in office under the constitution. In the year 2000, there will be presidential elections under the constitution and I will not run in those elections. — Boris Yeltsin

I was too busy looking into Yeltsin's eyes to notice what was under the table. — Lennart Meri

Your commanders have ordered you to storm the White House and to arrest me. But I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people. — Boris Yeltsin

A government is not an old pair of socks that you throw away. — Boris Yeltsin

I knew President Yeltsin well. He would never have tolerated government officials demonstratively showing off the millions they acquired through corruption, the way it's done today. — Mikhail Khodorkovsky

We've worked with President Yeltsin. He is the President of the country. He's been a reformer. We've been able to accomplish a number of things together. — Warren Christopher

Liberty sets the mind free, fosters independence and unorthodox thinking and ideas. But it does not offer instant prosperity or happiness and wealth to everyone. — Boris Yeltsin

There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends. — Boris Yeltsin

The main problem with being president is the constant sense that you are inside a glass bowl for everyone to see, or in a kind of barometric chamber with an artificial atmosphere where you must stay all the time. — Boris Yeltsin

You have no right to criticise Russia over Chechnya. — Boris Yeltsin

The clouds of terror and dictatorship are gathering over the whole country. They must not be allowed to bring eternal night. — Boris Yeltsin

You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can't sit on it for long. — Boris Yeltsin

A total of 1,580 people, the civilian population, suffered as a result of the bloody wave of terrorist acts that swept over Moscow and other towns and villages of our country. — Boris Yeltsin

I am a Soviet man, and Yeltsin is a Soviet man - maybe our grandchildren will be different. — Aleksandr Lebed

The citizen lives in each of us. In the days of Brezhnev, Andropov, Gorbachev and Yeltsin, I was constantly trying to suppress the responsible citizen in me. I told myself that I was, after all, an artist. — Vladimir Sorokin

The most important thing is that Milosevic agreed to sit at the negotiating table with the Kosovo Albanians. — Boris Yeltsin

I understand that it's hard for everyone, but one cannot give in to emotions ... we'll have to draw lessons from the current crisis and now we'll have to work on overcoming it. — Boris Yeltsin

A politician must have some scruples, a certain decency; he cannot smear himself in the mud for the sake of a high ideal. — Boris Yeltsin

Let's not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky. — Boris Yeltsin

I especially love driving down a hill directly at a tree and swerving to one side at the last moment. That's my way to relax. — Boris Yeltsin

Nixon urged Clinton to maintain his relationship with Yeltsin but make contact with other democrats in Russia. He warned Clinton away from some ultranationalists and toward those interested in liberty and reform. He pressed Clinton to replace his ambassador in Kiev and concentrate future U.S. economic aid on Ukraine, where it would matter most. — Nancy Gibbs

We all have an equal interest in stability and security throughout Europe. The years the OSCE has existed, and particularly this year, have given rise to great expectations and at the same time to powerful disappointments. — Boris Yeltsin

International terrorism is throwing down a challenge, and not just to Russia. — Boris Yeltsin

Vladimir Putin shot out of obscurity in 1999 by exploiting growing nostalgia for the USSR, fueled by the disappointment, uncertainty and crisis that brought Yeltsin's reform era to a shuddering halt. Once in power the following year, Putin set about building an authoritarian regime whose control would expand for more than a decade, until soaring corruption on top of another economic downturn - a much smaller one, triggered by the global financial crisis of 2008 - prompted another backlash. — Gregory Feifer

There were no strategic mistakes that could affect Russia's history and it further development. No, there were no such mistakes. Tactical errors were made in some less significant options, problems and so on. But, on the whole, Russia embarked on a correct path and it changed. — Boris Yeltsin

Gorbachev gave us freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom to see what was going on and freedom to vote, but that freedom won't last unless it is underpinned by economic freedom. — Boris Yeltsin

The Kremlin said Yeltsin was committed to the deal, however. President Yeltsin states clearly and unequivocally that he is an initiator of the unification of the two fraternal states and their peoples, a consistent and firm supporter of it, ... It is a geopolitical necessity and an economic reality. — Sergey Yastrzhembsky

I have Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to thank that a Russian writer can not only write anything he wants, but also publish it. — Vladimir Sorokin

On December 9, 1994, Yeltsin issued a statement ordering the Federal army to execute the disarmament of all illegal armed units in Chechnya, or as they were known locally, the government. — Anthony Marra

Putin had told Yeltsin that he did not like election campaigns, and now he dismissed campaign promises as unachievable lies told by politicians and denigrated television advertisements as unseemly manipulation of gullible consumers. — Steven Lee Myers

While maintaining our nuclear potential at the proper level, we need to devote more attention to developing the entire range of means of information warfare. — Boris Yeltsin

We Russians are already living, not getting ready to live. — Boris Yeltsin

I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers. I made the decision, therefore I am responsible. — Boris Yeltsin

I refer to calls for humanitarian intervention in the affairs of another state - a new idea, this - even when they are made under the pretext of defending human rights and freedoms. — Boris Yeltsin

The Soviet Union could not exist without the image of the empire. The image of the empire could not exist without the image of force. The USSR ended the moment the first hammer pounded the Berlin Wall. — Boris Yeltsin

I'm not going into personal details of meetings I have with anybody, be it John Howard or President Bush or President Putin or President Yeltsin, in years gone by, whoever it may be, I'm not going into that. — Alexander Downer

We, Russia, are prepared to work with others. I am convinced that stability and security in Europe cannot be considered without taking Russia into account. — Boris Yeltsin

It is especially important to encourage unorthodox thinking when the situation is critical: At such moments every new word and fresh thought is more precious than gold. Indeed, people must not be deprived of the right to think their own thoughts. — Boris Yeltsin

We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone. Freedom is like that. It's like air. When you have it, you don't notice it. — Boris Yeltsin

Europe has found itself confronted with fresh challenges - challenges of a global character, the nature of which is directly connected with changes in the international climate and the difficulties of seeking new models for co-operation. — Boris Yeltsin

I would like to stress here that a lasting peace in the Chechen republic and so-called peace talks with the bandits are not the same thing, and I would ask everyone to make no mistake about that. — Boris Yeltsin

We are well aware from which countries and through which countries the terrorists are receiving support. In the immediate future I shall be calling upon the leaders of these states to put a stop to this kind of activity. — Boris Yeltsin

Not a single reform effort in Russia has ever been completed. — Boris Yeltsin

One could see that what you are writing was that today's meeting with President Bill Clinton was going to be a disaster. Now, for the first time, I can tell you that you are a disaster. — Boris Yeltsin

A man must live like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can. In the end he burns out. But this is far better than a mean little flame. — Boris Yeltsin

Money, big money (which is actually a relative concept) is always, under any circumstances, a seduction, a test of morals, a temptation to sin. — Boris Yeltsin

I believe in this tragic hour you can make the right choice. The honor and glory of Russian men of arms shall not be stained with the blood of the people. — Boris Yeltsin

Russia, despite its heavy flirtation with capitalism and some quite unsavory oligarchs, is still building its foreign policy on the Soviet ideals of internationalism, solidarity and logic. And even domestically, President [Vladin]Putin is slowly, step-by-step, restoring many important Soviet achievements that were torpedoed by a nitwit, and one gangster - [Mikhail] Gorbachev and [Boris] Yeltsin. — Andre Vltchek

With Yeltsin, the Soviet Union broke apart, the country was totally mismanaged, the constitution was not respected by the regions of Russia. The army, education and health systems collapsed. People in the West quietly applauded, dancing with and around Yeltsin. I conclude therefore that we should not pay too much attention to what the West is saying. — Mikhail Gorbachev