Boris Yeltsin abolished Russia’s brief democracy experiment three decades ago, paving the way for Putin’s dictatorship.

First, Russia’s engagement with democracy started with Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader. When Gorbachev took power, he started serious efforts to reform the economy (perestroika), free up political debate (glasnost), and democratization (demokratizatsiya) to end crippling economic conditions from the Cold War. Ironically his democratic reforms not only accelerated the collapse of the Soviet Union and him being voted out, but his reforms introduced a period where democracy gained a precarious foot-hold.

In 1991, Yeltsin was elected on hope of democracy. Yeltsin declared: “You can build a throne with bayonets, but you can’t sit on it for long”, but the first year and a half of Yeltsin’s term saw escalating tensions between the newly formed executive and legislative branch of government over his economic “shock therapy”, which eventually led to hyperinflation wiping out the life savings of millions of everyday Russians.

Many Parliamentarians expressed opposition to many of Yeltsin’s reforms. Yeltsin chose to ignore Parliament instead of working with. In the summer of 1993, Parliament created alternative economic budget to help Russian citizens. Yeltsin rejected it on the grounds that it would wreck his economic reform. On Aug 3, Yeltsin promised a “hot autumn” for those challenging his policies.

A frustrated Parliament voted to impeach him and replace him with Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, and refused to leave the Parliament building. On September 21, violating the constitution he swore an oath to uphold, President Boris Yeltsin signed an emergency executive order abolishing the Russian Parliament. By Sept 29, Yeltsin deployed 2,500 riot police around the Parliament who beat pro-Parliament demonstrators indiscriminately. Yeltsin then cut off electricity, heat, and water, and surrounded the building with riot police. Armed military troops then opened fire on thousands of pro-Parliament demonstrators, killing 46 and injuring 124.

On Oct 4, Yeltsin ordered tanks in to shell the Parliament, Parliament members soon surrendered. The brief freedom Russian people enjoyed slipped through their fingers on this day. Yeltsin committed the Russian army against Russian citizens on Russian soil.

In Dec 1993, a new constitution referendum was approved giving the president sweeping powers. Yeltsin’s handpicked successor was Putin, who eliminated any remnants of democracy when he took over, but Russia’s fleeting embrace with democracy truly ended in Oct 1993.

Many Historians’ say Yeltsin allowed his brief “15 minutes of fame” be hijacked by his handpicked nefarious oligarchs who proceeded to take over government and the media in their quest for power, and siphoned wealth away from the Russian people.

When you step back and digest history, alarm bells go off. We need to pull our heads-out-of-the-sand.