Changes

This operation was supervised by Prime Minister [[Vladimir Putin]], who impressed Yeltsin as none of his predecessors had.  Yeltsin's popularity was in free fall by this time as a result of the bombings and of his government's perceived foreign policy failures, particularly the inability to stop [[Bill Clinton]]'s war against [[Yugoslavia]] or get sanctions lifted against [[Iraq]], both countries having come since the end of Communism to be seen as [[allies]] of Russia.  One day, Yeltsin allegedly said to Putin, "Something very important has happened:  People trust you."  Rather than risk a victory by Communists or other [[totalitarians]] in the 2000 election, Yeltsin chose to resign eight years to the day after Gorbachev had, resulting in the elevation of Putin, who had less baggage, to the presidency.  In his farewell speech, Yeltsin apologized to the Russian people "for the dreams you had which never came true."<ref>https://m-diplomat.ru/en/history/how-boris-yeltsin-russia-s-first-president-resigned/</ref>

This operation was supervised by Prime Minister [[Vladimir Putin]], who impressed Yeltsin as none of his predecessors had.  Yeltsin's popularity was in free fall by this time as a result of the bombings and of his government's perceived foreign policy failures, particularly the inability to stop [[Bill Clinton]]'s war against [[Yugoslavia]] or get sanctions lifted against [[Iraq]], both countries having come since the end of Communism to be seen as [[allies]] of Russia.  One day, Yeltsin allegedly said to Putin, "Something very important has happened:  People trust you."  Rather than risk a victory by Communists or other [[totalitarians]] in the 2000 election, Yeltsin chose to resign eight years to the day after Gorbachev had, resulting in the elevation of Putin, who had less baggage, to the presidency.  In his farewell speech, Yeltsin apologized to the Russian people "for the dreams you had which never came true."<ref>https://m-diplomat.ru/en/history/how-boris-yeltsin-russia-s-first-president-resigned/</ref>

==Yeltsin, KAL 007, and American Pows==

===Yeltsin, KAL 007, and American Pows===

American POW matters had become intertwined with [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]], shot down by the Soviets in 1983, when Senator Jesse Helms of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations wrote to Boris Yeltsin requesting information concerning both matters. On December 5, 1991, Senator Helms had written to Yeltsin concerning the US servicemen. "The status of thousands and thousands of American servicemen who are held by Soviet and other Communist forces, and who were never repatriated after every major war this century, is of grave concern to the American people." Yeltsin would ultimately respond with a statement made on June 15, 1992, while being interviewed aboard his presidential jet on his way to the United States, "Our archives have shown that it is true - some of them [American POWs from [[World War II]] and the [[Vietnam War]]] were transferred to the territory of the U.S.S.R. and were kept in labor camps... We can only surmise that some of them may still be alive."

American POW matters had become intertwined with [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]], shot down by the Soviets in 1983, when Senator Jesse Helms of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations wrote to Boris Yeltsin requesting information concerning both matters. On December 5, 1991, Senator Helms had written to Yeltsin concerning the US servicemen. "The status of thousands and thousands of American servicemen who are held by Soviet and other Communist forces, and who were never repatriated after every major war this century, is of grave concern to the American people." Yeltsin would ultimately respond with a statement made on June 15, 1992, while being interviewed aboard his presidential jet on his way to the United States, "Our archives have shown that it is true - some of them [American POWs from [[World War II]] and the [[Vietnam War]]] were transferred to the territory of the U.S.S.R. and were kept in labor camps... We can only surmise that some of them may still be alive."