Three-time Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and a member of the Presidium of the General Council of the United Russia political party, Alexander Karelin, in an interview with the Tomsk Time YouTube channel, shared his opinion about former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
– How do you feel about President Yeltsin? Were you his confidant?
– Was. Twice. The man took upon himself the hardest work to cancel that system and say that there will be a market. While we still cannot overcome the overarching desire for social security. Most are still not ready to buy into the competition. Boris Nikolaevich took on the hardest work.
Did he get through with it?
I don’t think we should judge. Too little time has passed.
But we are reaping the result.
“We are cleaning up the aftermath. But they could be much heavier, I’m sure of that.
– When Yeltsin speaks in the US Congress, puts his hand on his heart, says something like this …
You are taking it out of context. When at one time we focused not on our troubles, but began to seek approval outside the country, it was certainly not Boris Nikolayevich who pushed us to this. Exactly. And he did not receive the Nobel Prize for the collapse of the Soviet Union. And he, too, was a liquidator of consequences, if you want my opinion convinced. Yes, he did a little. Little. But only for the fact that he did not allow the Russian Federation to be dispersed, at the cost of even hard-to-be-accepted stories that take sovereignty as much as you can, and stabilized our historical state, to which we returned through an effort. We are the greatest colonial power of the last century. Yes, I was his confidant, got a lot of experience. I was amazed when they say to you, a young guy: “I ask you to help.” This sounds very flattering. I worked with him, several times I was his adviser. I assure you, a huge brain, a huge ability to perceive information. How he worked with documents… When you are in the same car with him, you see how it happens.
Karelin has been a member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party since 2001. He was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of five convocations.
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