logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2022
9m 11s

Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation

Bbc World Service
About this episode

On New Year's Eve 1999 the Russian President went on TV and announced he was leaving office. Tired and emotional, he apologised to the people for the state of the country. Boris Yeltsin's departure paved the way for his chosen successor, Vladimir Putin. Dina Newman spoke to the former Russian president's widow, Naina Yeltsina, about that day.

PHOTO: Boris Yeltsin in 1999 (Getty Images)

Up next
Apr 2025
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ... Show More
9m 43s
Today
The Howard Hughes literary hoax
<p>In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.</p><p>Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film producer, record-breaking aviator and business tycoon, who’d built a $2 bil ... Show More
10m 4s
Yesterday
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
<p>In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. </p><p>The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety before starting their shifts. </p><p>It’s now a major tourist attraction, a ... Show More
10m 35s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2023
Lula President again
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be sworn in again as Brazil's President after a gap of more than ten years. We speak to his former foreign minister. Also on the programme, we hear about the Ukrainian dancers who are using a classic ballet to comment on the war with Russia; and and ... Show More
47m 39s
Feb 2024
Russian opponent Alexei Navalny dies... and analysing Labour's double by-election win
Alexei Navalny, the most prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has died in jail. Barred in 2018 from running in elections, he remained Mr Putin's most powerful political opponent. He survived a novichok poisoning, after being treated in Germany. But still he chose ... Show More
19m 36s
Feb 2024
Two Years On: Banned from challenging Putin
Russia's election commission has disqualified anti-war challenger Boris Nadezhdin from standing as a candidate in next month's presidential vote.He joins Victoria and Vitaly to discuss why he was barred, why he won’t stop campaigning for peace and his vow to follow in the footste ... Show More
21m 3s
Jan 2021
Aleksei Navalny and the Future of Russia
<p>The Russian activist Aleksei Navalny has spent years agitating against corruption, and against President Vladimir Putin. </p><p>Last summer he was poisoned with a rare nerve agent linked to the Russian state. Last week, after recovering in Germany, he returned to Moscow. He wa ... Show More
28m 18s
Mar 2022
159. Young Putin, the KGB and the Soviet Union
[Episode 1 of 4] Welcome to our new four part series on the latter years of the Soviet Union, its fall, Putin's early life and his subsequent rise to power. Today's episode focuses on Brezhnev, Putin's formative years, his early KGB career and Gorbachev's descent into chaos. W ... Show More
35m 28s
Apr 2022
Protesting against Putin
<p>Starting in late 2011, tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets to try to stop what they saw as a power grab by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The movement was not successful, but analysts say it worried the Russian leader so much that he launched a crackdown on dis ... Show More
49m 50s
Jul 2022
One-on-one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Political upheaval in Britain as Prime Minister Boris Johnson is resigning after a series of ethics scandals forced him to step down. In an exclusive interview, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shares his reaction to Johnson’s resignation and provides updates in the war aga ... Show More
1h 19m
Feb 2024
Putin’s Opposition Ponders a Future Without Aleksei Navalny
<p>Last week, the Russian authorities announced that Aleksei A. Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader and an unflinching critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, had died in a remote Arctic prison at the age of 47.</p><p>Yevgenia Albats, his friend, discusses how Mr. N ... Show More
31m 31s
May 2022
How Putin Co-opted Russia’s Biggest Holiday
<p>For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken advantage of Victory Day — when Russians commemorate the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany — to champion his country’s military might and project himself as a leader of enormous power.</p><p>This year, he drew on the pageantry of ... Show More
27m 3s
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami