Yeltsin hands power to Putin
A surprise New Year's Eve resignation launches an unknown former intelligence officer to the presidency
Quick facts
- Yeltsin resigns
- 31 December 1999
- Putin's first full term
- Elected 26 March 2000
- Second Chechen War toll
- Over 10,000 killed (estimate)
What happened
Boris Yeltsin governed the new Russian Federation through the 1990s amid severe economic hardship: inflation stayed high, the government repeatedly printed money to cover budget shortfalls, and by 1993 the resulting deficit equaled roughly a fifth of GDP. Yeltsin also fought a costly war against Chechen separatists, and in 1999 authorized a second invasion of Chechnya that killed over 10,000 people and left the city of Grozny devastated, partly to boost the political standing of his chosen successor, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer who had been largely unknown a year earlier. On 31 December 1999, Yeltsin announced his resignation, making Putin acting president; Putin's first act in office was to grant Yeltsin immunity from prosecution. Putin won election to a full term on 26 March 2000.
Why it matters
The transition marked Russia's move from Yeltsin's chaotic, improvisational reform era to Putin's more centralized and security-service-oriented style of governance, a shift contemporary observers at the time already flagged as a return toward statist and autocratic patterns with deep roots in Russian history.
How we know
Yeltsin's resignation address and the terms of Putin's pardon for him were broadcast and recorded contemporaneously; Russian government economic data document the 1990s inflation and deficit figures.
Sources
- David Winston, Hoover Institution (Policy Review, April 2000). From Yeltsin to Putin: Milestones on an Unfinished Journey · Reputable sourcehoover.org · The domain "hoover.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- David Winston, Hoover Institution (Policy Review, April 2000). From Yeltsin to Putin: Milestones on an Unfinished Journey · Reputable sourcehoover.org · The domain "hoover.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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