Yeltsinism is a rarely used neologism characterising the political and economic policies of Boris Yeltsin after he became the effective ruler of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. The term "Yeltsinism" occurs most often with negative connotations. Yeltsin's critics blame him for the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, which Russian President Vladimir Putin called "The geopolitical catastrophe of the century". Others imply that Yeltsinism involves the outward appearance of democracy while actually concentrating power in a form of authoritarianism and consider the current political system in Russia (often called Putinism) "a continuation and rejection of Yeltsinism". Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, for example, described it as "observing the minimum requirements necessary to appease western sensibilities and stave off accusations of openly violating the rules of democracy in terms of form, while actually violating those rules in terms of substance."
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