News about Boris Yeltsin

Vladimir Putin slammed the 'stupidity' of Russia seizing Crimea from Ukraine and decried Moscow's outdated 'heavy imperial legacy' in a resurfaced TV interview from 25 years ago. The tyrant dictator - then two months into his first premiership under President Boris Yeltsin - told TV presenter Alexander Lyubimov, son of former Soviet KGB spy in London Mikhail Lyubimov, how 'we don't want to take Crimea - that's absolute stupidity'. Contrary to his views a quarter of a century ago, Putin - who has ruthlessly rigged elections and killed opponents to remain at the Kremlin helm - not only seized Crimea in 2014 but also swathes of eastern Ukraine. In 2022 he plunged Europe into its biggest conflict since the Second World War as he sought and failed to invade the rest of Russia's near neighbour. In the footage showing Putin's hypocrisy, which has reappeared on TikTok and X, Lyubimov asked the ruler on October 9, 1999: 'We don't like that Ukraine wants to join NATO. We want to take Crimea. Or is it just that we can't agree on money? Gas, sugar… What is our main problem with Ukraine, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin]?'

A team-wide battle erupted between a team known as 'Tough Guy' and a team of players from the Federal Security Service (FSB). Fights are common in ice hockey, but after this match the FSB, which is the main successor agency to the Soviet Union's KGB, reportedly ordered the arrest of the opposition players. Five of the players were detained immediately and charged with 'hooliganism', which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, according to a Telegram channel. The decision has proved controversial in Russia and it has split sports fans and supporters of the security services over whether the hockey players should have been detained.

Professor Sergei Karaganov, a political scientists who has been hired by the Kremlin to study how to 'deter the West', said in the past that such an attack on Europe would be the best way of saving the world from a full-blown war. In addition to Putin, the 71-year-old was also a presidential adviser to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, and is seen as being a hugely influential Russian foreign policy expert. He is linked to several pervasive ideas in Russian foreign policy such as the so-called Karaganov doctrine - on the rights of ethnic Russians living abroad, and the Putin Doctrine - the support of authoritarian regimes while undermining democracies. He has also been a staunch supporter of Putin's invasion of Ukraine from the beginning, having helped formulate a number of the key ideas that led to it in 2022.

Already in office for nearly a quarter-century and the longest-serving Kremlin leader since Josef Stalin, Putin's new term does not expire until 2030, when he will be constitutionally eligible to run again. But the 71-year-old will undoubtedly face incessant speculation about the state of his health in the coming years, having undergone much-heightened scrutiny since the invasion of Ukraine. The aged autocrat now cuts a very different figure from the 47-year-old who became acting president of the Russian Federation when his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, resigned on the eve of the millennium. A once-svelte KGB officer and martial arts practitioner, Putin is now a bloated and seemingly brittle man with a lilting gait and a stiff, scowling visage likely held in place by copious amounts of botox and more than one facelift. And there are even rumours that he employs several body doubles to stand in for various public appearances as he grapples with mounting health issues.

When Britain's biggest private house, a mega-mansion called Witanhurst on Highgate Hill in north London , went on the market in 2008, it was close to a ruin. The roof was riddled with leaks, the floorboards were warped and cornices embellished with gold leaf were blighted by mould. Given that this 90,000 sq ft property had a total of 65 rooms - including 25 bedrooms - and a ballroom 70ft long and 20ft high, with an elaborate ceiling that takes six months to paint, it amounted to the country's ultimate doer-upper.

Criminals from Dublin to Dundee have all flocked to Dubai over the last decade, often posing for selfie-type photographs drenched in designer gear and jewellery. The leaders of the Kinahan crime cartel are said to be based in Dubai, where they appear to be beyond the reach of Irish police and the Drug Enforcement Agency. The Sunday Times recently reported that Christy Kinahan senior, one of the world's most wanted men, was living freely in Dubai and renewed his ID card in November 2021. The US treasury department's Office of Foreign Assets Control and Drug Enforcement Administration, Ireland's Garda Siochana, the UK's National Crime Agency and Europol launched sanctions and a $5 million bounty on the Kinahans in April 2022. A legal expert told MailOnline that many British criminals were attracted to Dubai for one reason specific reason.

According to sources, the defunct Russian military helicopter pilot who went down in Spain last week may have been tracked down due to his debauched lifestyle. After leaving Russia last year in a robbed Mi-8 helicopter and landing in Ukraine, Captain Maksim Kuzminov (main), 28, was discovered dead in an underground car park in Villajoyosa near Alicante on February 13. Spanish police are now probing whether the Russian mafia and intelligence services carried out a dramatic assassination after being aware of his whereabouts because of his suspected use of opioids, solicitation of prostitutes, and street brawling.

After a Russian defector pilot was shot down near Benidorm, a Kremlin hit squad is believed to be on the loose in Spain. Following what seems to have been a Kremlin-orchestrated attack, Captain Maksim Kuzminov (left) was discovered full of bullets in an underground car park in Villajoyosa near Alicante earlier this month. By fleeing his homeland last August with a stolen Mi-8 helicopter and landing it in a Ukrainian military airfield, the 28-year-old had become a target of Russian death squads. According to police reports, the pistol used to murder him was Russian and the move is thought to have been a 'calling card,' and it is likely he was killed by a Kremlin hit squad headquartered in Costa Blanca. According to a survey, the same hit team may have been blamed for Sergey Protosenya, 55, who was found hanged after allegedly murdering his wife and teenage daughter (right) with an axe as they slept in 2022.

Phew! I was beginning to feel downright unpatriotic. Hundreds of British citizens have been banned from attending Russian universities, including 213 Conservative and 74 Labour MPs. My name was not on any of the lists until yesterday. 'You been sanctioned too, Hannan?' The MPs will ask, unable to maintain the swagger from their tone. 'No,' I'd mumbled, eyes downcast.' I've only been refused admission to, er, Belarus.' Does that count?'

The wine cellar of La Tour d'Argent (top right), the oldest restaurant in Paris, is so popular that only customers who order the most expensive vintages or otherwise 'prove their interest' are allowed a guided tour. Members of the restaurant's fortunate few are then led into the restaurant's bowels by a member of staff wearing white tie and tails who chimes a copper bell to announce the visitor's arrival to the security men who guard its property round the clock. They are met with a warren of 27 rooms containing more than 300,000 bottles worth £21 million per capita. The 25,000 most valuable bottles, which are all priced at £250 to $800, are stored in a separate area on the first floor of the cellar, which has walls reinforced with battleship-grade metal to discourage any thieves tunnelling in, and no one - not even the head sommelier - is allowed inside alone.

Officials suspect that Putin will declare his participation in the referendum in March next year as part of a conference in November. The author said that there are others for what Putin may do at the conference, but that the final decision rests with him. Putin, who was voted president by Boris Yeltsin on the last day of 1999, has been a figure for longer than any other Russian emperor since Josef Stalin, defeating even Leonid Brezhnev's 18-year tenure. On October 7, the Russian president will have turned 71.

On a retreat in Finland, the Russian despot can be seen sporting long unkempt hair and sporting a casual purple and green tracksuit. The video, which was retrieved by Finnish broadcaster YLE, was shot at a time when Putin was 40 years old and his political figure was becoming more popular. Leningrad's name was changed to St Petersburg in 1991. Putin appointed him as the head of the Committee for External Relations, making him the right handman of the mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Putin is largely private these days, with only a few photographs and videos available to the public, in which he seems rigid and ostensive.

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: When it opened in New York less than six years ago, Wetherby-Pembridge School in Notting Hill, 'the alma mater of both William and Harry' (pictured). However, the spell has been irretrievably broken. Wetherby-Pembridge, which had been charged with 'a whopping $45,000 [£35,600]-a-year]-a-year' right from the start, has closed and its website has been suspended, according to me.

I say thank you to God if what seemed to be civil war in Russia had not been averted. I hate to imagine what might have happened to the overwhelmingly oppressed, systematically robbed, stoical, brave Russians, if civil war had re-enacted in the region. I was in Moscow the last time its government was deposed in a coup d'etat, and I do not recommend such activities to people of a tumultuous disposition. Human bones are found on almost every part of Russia, and they have the marks of murder. The country is never far from total disaster.

PETER HITCHENS: Whatever do they teach them in these schools?How do we find out?How can we change it if we do not like it? It has been obvious that Left-wing dogmas, both public and private, have invaded the schools of this country, state, and private, making it impossible to fight. They are made tougher by a supposedly Republican government, which has the support of a supposedly Christian government. For example, you do not have to like or agree with former Oxford state school teacher Joshua Sutcliffe. He may be a bit of a pain, I suspect. Brave people are often a pain.

Bill Clinton has admitted that he knew it was 'only a matter of time' until Vladimir Putin (left) invaded Ukraine as a 'waiting' greeter, shortly after the warmonger sent a chilling warning to the former US president. During a dramatic discussion between the leaders in Davos, Switzerland, three years before Russia invaded Crimea, Putin made it clear that he did not agree with a deal to protect Ukraine's borders. Boris Yeltsin, Putin's predecessor, and Kyiv argued that if Ukraine's territories would not be infringed upon in exchange for Kyiv relinquishing its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal, it would not be honored. At a New York function, Vladimir Putin told me three years before he took Crimea that he did not comply with the deal I broke with Boris Yeltsin that he did not sign'.' "I don't agree with it," he said. And I don't endorse it. I am not bound by it.' I knew from the start that it was just a matter of time.' In 2000, the two guys were photographed inset together.

It's been a long hunt for the elusive "bop" and it's elusive. Playlists and streaming-service recommendations can only do so much. They often leave a lingering question: Are these songs really good, or are they just new? The MTV News team's hand-picked collection of songs from their Bop Shop. This weekly collection doesn't discriminate by genre or type, but it will include anything — it's a snapshot of what's on our minds and what looks good. We'll keep it up with the latest hits, but we'll still get a few oldies (but goodies) every once in a while. Prepare: The Bop Shop is now open for business.

Pathogen leaks in Birmingham's smallpox outbreak in the 1970s, a Soviet cover-up of 'Biological Chernobyl', to extinct polio in a Dutch sewer are not as common as you might expect.

Viatcheslav Rovneiko, 59, was found unconscious late at night at his home in an exclusive gated village. According to a Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper article, doctors could not save him. Although the circumstances surrounding his death were unclear, an investigation is currently underway. According to the report, there were "no signs of a violent death on his body." Rovneiko's death means he will join a long line of influential Kremlin figures to die in recent years under unethical circumstances. People were seen strolling through Moscow's Red Square on Tuesday, as shown by a photographer (file photo).

Alexander Rutskoy (left, top right with Putin), a former Soviet general, accused Putin of'senselessly' killing tens of thousands of Russian soliders who have been used as cannon fodder in the conflict. Putin's invasion of Ukraine may never have been launched, according to Rutskoy, who served as deputy to President Boris Yeltsin. 'If the armed forces do not have the capability to conduct strategic offensive missions, it is better not to try, especially outside of your own country,' Rutskoy said.

NIALL FERGUSON: In 1992, a future seemed to be attainable in which the West stood king. The Soviet Union had been inactive a year before, but George H.W. declared the Cold War officially ended. Boris Yeltsin and Bush followed him soon after. The North American Free Trade Agreement and the Maastricht Treaty, which officially established the European Union, were also signed in 1992. The new buzzword was 'globalization.' Trade, migration, and cross-border investment will all raise living conditions in a globally borderless world.

ROBERT HARDMAN: All ten episodes of The Crown's fifth series will be released by Netflix on Wednesday, and viewers will see a new cast portraying the British monarchy through the 1990s' ghastlines. The narrative spans several of the late queen's reign, from the annus horribilis of 1992 to the Princess of Wales' explosive Panorama interview, which came just weeks before Diana's death in 1997. The tragedy is being postponed for yet another series, due out next year.

On October 8, GM Sergei Surovikin was appointed as Putin's top commander in Ukraine. Two days later, Russia launched scores of missiles that struck more than 300 towns and cities around the beleaguered world, killing at least 19 people and injuring hundreds of others. Russia said it had attacked military, oil, and communications networks. The missiles actually struck power plants and busy civilian areas in major cities, according to Kyiv. Putin called Surovikin's 56th birthday the next day. They discussed the callous assault, according to the tyrant, who claimed revenge for the explosion that shattered his beloved Kerch Bridge, which links Russia to Crimea. Sergei Surovikin is reportedly planning a retreat from Kherson's city. However, although capturing Kherson would be a major victory for Kyiv, the news came as rumors that Putin is planning to declare an all-out war against Ukraine. When his assaults fail, the increasingly desperate Russian despot could also resort to a nuclear show of force over the Black Sea. Surovikin, who is known for his use of unconventional and deadly tactics in Syria, where he obtained his feared name, would certainly not resist such a move, though his history gives insight into what is going to happen in Kherson's war.

Since being handpicked by President Boris Yeltsin as his next in a surprise announcement on New Year's Eve 1999, the Russian deput has ruled Russia for nearly 23 years. Since then, Putin has been either President or Prime Minister (from 2008 to 2012) of Russia. He has worked with all manner of world leaders and has deliberately curated his image as a strongman. He has often posed while doing adventurous stunts, such as riding bare-chested on a horse, firing guns at shooting ranges, playing ice hockey, or even investigating the ocean depths to play to his base at home. However, despite attempting to show off his amusing features, he has also pulled Russia back into conflict by his brutality. He has been involved in several conflicts, and is said to have ordered many criminal offences on foreign soil, including political assassinations, while cracking down on domestic opposition. He has been increasingly preoccupied with his legacy over time. He appears to have bet on his war in Ukraine, with some fearing that his refusal to surrender would result in him using nuclear weapons - and has brought the world to the brink of a nuclear Armageddon.