“To the new Russian century!“ - Putin, 1999

And the rest was history. There is no consensus on all the reasons behind Yeltsin’s resignation, however this clip features his last address to the nation on 31 December 1999. After a number of heart attacks, he was in poor health and with slurred speech. It is also believed that he left the country in worse shape than he found it in, with the collapse of the USSR; the Chechen wars had brought civil conflict and international terrorism to Russian territory, the 1998 financial crisis had destroyed the econo