@yeeyeelife87: Yeltsin named Putin prime minister on August 9, 1999. Putin was 46 and almost unknown to the public. He had spent 16 years as a KGB officer and had run its successor agency, the FSB, for about a year. He was the fifth prime minister in less than 18 months. Few people expected him to last. But Yeltsin went further than usual that day and said on television that he saw Putin as the man who should follow him as president. That fall, a new war began in Chechnya. Putin took a hard line in public, and his approval ratings shot up. Yeltsin was 68, in poor health and deeply unpopular. His own rating had fallen to about 4 percent. On December 31, 1999, he went on television and stunned the country. “I am resigning,” he said. He asked Russians to forgive him for the hopes that had not come true. Putin became acting president that same day. Yeltsin gave him the pen he had used to sign decrees and told him, "Take care of Russia." The heavy coats and snow suggest the photo was taken at the very end of the year. It matches pictures from that final day, when Yeltsin waved goodbye and left the Kremlin for the last time. Added fact: Putin won the presidential election three months later, in March 2000. He has held power in Russia, as president or prime minister, ever since. #putin#russia

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Thursday 08 October 2026 07:39:20 GMT