Interview · moment 12 of 23
The West's Blind Eye to Yeltsin-Era Looting
from Russia's Super Mafia · #98
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
4 minGuest
Galeotti argues the West enabled Russia's collapse into criminality by propping up Yeltsin, ignoring rigged elections and shelled parliaments, and pushing rapid privatization that let oligarchs loot the country.
- 28:22Tim argues the West badly mishandled Russia in the 1990s by backing Yeltsin despite his anti-democratic actions.
- 28:42The US turned a blind eye when Yeltsin shelled parliament into submission and rigged the 1996 election.
- 29:18Free market academics treated Russia as a playground, pushing rapid privatization without concern for who bought the assets.
- 30:05Western indifference after the Soviet collapse meant no one cared about Russia beyond preventing nuclear proliferation.
- 30:27Organized crime groups and dubious Western corporations used Russia to launder money and run pyramid schemes.
- 30:55Putin's rise with centralized control and anti-Western sentiment was an unsurprising response to Western neglect and exploitation.
Boris YeltsinVladimir PutinRussiaSoviet UnionCIACommunist PartyRichard Rubin