The Russian Federation

Price liberalization and shock therapy

Acting prime minister Yegor Gaidar frees most prices and launches rapid market reforms, unleashing hyperinflation that wipes out household savings.

Mass voucher privatization transferred state enterprises into private hands, but much wealth was concentrated among a small group of well-connected businessmen who became the new oligarchs. Living standards for millions collapsed.

The shelling of the parliament and a new constitution

A power struggle between Yeltsin and parliament ends with tanks shelling the White House in October; a December referendum approves a constitution granting strong presidential powers.

The 1993 constitution shaped Russian politics for decades, concentrating authority in the presidency. The violent confrontation, which left scores dead in central Moscow, exposed the fragility of the young democracy.

Russia invades Chechnya

Federal forces enter the breakaway republic of Chechnya in December, beginning a brutal war marked by the devastating battle for Grozny.

The war went badly for the poorly prepared Russian army. After heavy casualties on both sides and among civilians, the 1996 Khasavyurt Accord granted Chechnya de facto autonomy and ended the first conflict.

Yeltsin wins a second term

Trailing badly in the polls, an ailing Yeltsin defeats Communist Gennady Zyuganov in a runoff, backed by oligarch-controlled media and Western support.

The ruble crisis and default

In August Russia devalues the ruble and defaults on its domestic debt, wiping out banks and savings and deepening public disillusion with the reforms.

Falling oil prices and a fragile financial system triggered the collapse. Although painful, the cheaper ruble and recovering oil revenues set the stage for a rapid economic rebound in the following years.

Putin becomes prime minister and the Second Chechen War begins

After apartment bombings shock the country, the little-known Vladimir Putin is named prime minister and launches a new war in Chechnya; on 31 December Yeltsin resigns and makes him acting president.

Putin's decisive handling of the war made him popular and positioned him to win the presidency. His rise marked the end of the chaotic Yeltsin era and the beginning of a more centralized, assertive state.

Putin is elected president

Vladimir Putin wins the presidency in March and moves to restore the 'power vertical', curbing the oligarchs and the autonomy of the regions.

Rising oil and gas revenues fueled a decade of growth and recovering living standards that underpinned Putin's popularity. In August the nuclear submarine Kursk sank with all 118 hands lost, an early test of his leadership.

The Beslan school siege

Chechen militants seize a school in Beslan in September; the three-day siege ends in carnage with more than 330 dead, many of them children.

Following Beslan and the 2002 Moscow theater siege, Putin abolished the direct election of regional governors and further consolidated central control, citing the need to fight terrorism.

Medvedev presidency and the war with Georgia

Barred by term limits, Putin becomes prime minister as Dmitry Medvedev takes the presidency; in August a brief war with Georgia ends with Russia recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The 'tandem' kept Putin firmly in charge behind the scenes. The Georgian war signaled Moscow's willingness to use force against post-Soviet neighbors seeking closer ties with the West.

Putin returns to the presidency amid protests

After mass protests over disputed 2011 parliamentary elections, Putin reclaims the presidency for a six-year term and tightens laws on assembly, the media, and 'foreign agents'.

The annexation of Crimea

After the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, Russian forces seize Crimea and annex it following a disputed referendum; a war erupts in the eastern Donbas, drawing Western sanctions.

The annexation, the first forcible seizure of European territory since World War II, transformed Russia's relations with the West. Sanctions and falling oil prices strained the economy, while patriotic sentiment briefly lifted Putin's ratings. Russia also hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi that February.

Russia intervenes in the Syrian civil war

In September Russia launches an air campaign in support of Bashar al-Assad, its first major military operation outside the former Soviet Union since Afghanistan.

The intervention turned the tide of the war in Assad's favor and reasserted Russia as a power broker in the Middle East, securing its naval and air bases on the Mediterranean.

Putin re-elected and Russia hosts the World Cup

Putin wins a fourth term with a landslide and Russia hosts a successful FIFA World Cup, even as tensions with the West deepen over the Skripal poisoning in Britain.

Constitutional amendments reset Putin's term limits

A nationwide vote approves sweeping constitutional changes that reset the count on Putin's terms, allowing him to remain president potentially until 2036, as the COVID-19 pandemic strikes.

Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine

On 24 February Russia invades Ukraine on multiple fronts; the assault on Kyiv fails, and the war becomes the largest in Europe since 1945, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions.

Russia later proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions it did not fully control. The war isolated Russia diplomatically, prompted the exodus of hundreds of thousands of citizens, and pushed Finland and Sweden toward NATO membership.

Prigozhin's short-lived mutiny

In June Yevgeny Prigozhin leads his Wagner mercenaries in a march toward Moscow before abruptly halting; two months later he dies in a plane crash.

The mutiny was the most serious challenge to Putin's authority in his more than two decades in power, briefly exposing cracks in the Russian state before the threat was neutralized.

Putin secures a fifth term as the war grinds on

Putin wins a fifth presidential term in a tightly controlled election held weeks after the death in prison of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, while the war in Ukraine continues.