About Boris Yeltsin

There is a memorable scene in the BBC documentary, “The Second Russian Revolution,” where Boris Yeltsin, after finishing a stinging speech criticising the Soviet leadership, climbs down the podium and walks to the back door and disappear, to the amazement of the delegates. And his undoubtedly heroic act in August 1991 to stand up against the coup plotters. A temperamental boozer and prideful statesman, Yeltsin’s likable childlike side is told by the late Yonehara Mari, who watched him closely as his interpreter. I almost hear Yeltsin shout “Mari! Mari!”