On May 7, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been working hard for days about the Russian-Ukrainian military conflict, heard another bad news. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken announced that the United States would provide Ukraine with an additional $150 million in military aid.
May 7 is a very special day for Putin. Exactly 22 years ago at noon today, in and down The hall of the Kremlin, Putin was declared president by Vishnyakov, chairman of Russia's Central Election Commission.
On that day, next to the angry Putin stood the silver-haired, tall former President Boris Yeltsin.
Speaking of which, if it were not for Yeltsin's abrupt announcement of his resignation on the last day of the 20th century, and all the power in his hands to put all the power in his hands to put him in charge of the presidency in advance, Russia might not have had the Putin era.
Honestly speaking, in the minds of the Russian people, Yeltsin's ability to govern the country is a bit far behind Putin's. Many say "seeing Putin" is perhaps the only right decision he made during his presidency of Russia.
However, in addition to promoting Putin for Russia, Yeltsin has actually left a very important political legacy for Putin, so that 22 years later, Putin can still have enough confidence to resist the huge pressure of the West on Russia.
Wine and vodka
At 19:00 on the evening of December 25, 1991, as Gorbachev announced to the world in front of the camera that he had resigned as president of the Soviet Union, the Soviet flag with a sickle and hammer printed on it over the Kremlin was slowly lowered, and the Cold War era ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in shock.
At the same time, Russia, which has been born with a white, blue, and red flag from the ruins of the Soviet Union and has inherited most of the Soviet Union's legacy, must also withdraw from the shadow of the Cold War as soon as possible and decide which side it should stand on in the new world pattern.
It was a headache for Yeltsin, Russia's first president, no less difficult than which glass of wine he was going to drink next.
Yeltsin had a love of cup covetousness, which was well known in Russian politics. His first order, elected president of Russia, was the repeal of Soviet-era Prohibition.
In western-dominated international diplomacy, red and white wine is the protagonist.
Yeltsin favored higher-grade wines, and in Soviet times his favorite drink was brandy, a highly distilled fruit such as grapes.
But in Russia, the wine that truly represents its country and nation is called vodka, which is a spirit that uses grain or potatoes and other grains as raw materials to brew up to 95% alcohol, and then directly mixes it with water.
Since The independence of Russia, the president's favorite drink has, of course, been changed to vodka, and at most, Yeltsin can drink a liter at a time.
But Russia's economy after the end of the Cold War was so weak that Yeltsin desperately needed aid and loans that only western countries had, and how could there be a place for vodka in the Western diplomatic field dominated by tuxedos and wine?
Yeltsin knew that he needed to find another reliable "drinking buddy" in the international political arena.
Finalize the visit to China
If the international stage is likened to a banquet, China's position in the early 1990s was more awkward than Russia's.
At that time, China's interaction with the West was in a low period, and there were few Chinese seats on the tables of developed countries filled with high-end wines, quite like Russia, which is besieged by the Western world today.
At this juncture, in early 1992, Russian Foreign Minister Kozilev wrote a letter to Mainland Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, revealing that the Russian side was willing to develop relations with China according to the scale and level between China and the Soviet Union in that year.
Behind this letter, of course, Yeltsin meant it. This is a very rare signal, after all, Russia was looking for the West at that time, and China was not welcomed by the West.
This also shows that Yeltsin has long thought of China's important role in Russia in the world pattern of the United States dominating after the Cold War.
In January 1992, Yeltsin took advantage of his trip to New York to attend a United Nations meeting to meet with Premier Li Peng in person and hinted at his willingness to think of visiting China.
Russia inherited tens of thousands of Soviet nuclear warheads capable of destroying the world. With a powerful nuclear arsenal, Russia remained the only great power in the world at the time to rival the United States, both politically and militarily.
The implicit meaning of such a big country taking the initiative to show us overtures must not be taken lightly.
In March, Qian Qichen took the opportunity of talks with Kozilev to formally extend an invitation to Yeltsin to "welcome a visit to China at a convenient time." In late August, the Russian side formally proposed a date for President Yeltsin's visit to China.
On December 17, 1992, Yeltsin's presidential plane finally took off from Moscow, and the visit of the first Russian president to China began.
Ace out of the horse
Chinese have long been aware of the unique importance of alcohol in Russian social activities. And know the famous "Ustinov Rule": talk about drinking beforehand, as long as you drink the other party at the wine table, you can get an absolute psychological advantage in the next negotiations.
In 1990, during a visit to the former Soviet Union to purchase warplanes, Lieutenant General Lin Hu used this rule to send people to drink 17 Soviet generals, winning an incredibly favorable price for China.
Naturally, in the face of Yeltsin's party, which was about to arrive, what kind of wine to put on the table became one of the most important top priorities of Lu Peixin, the chief of protocol.
In 1992, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carried out protocol reforms, abolished spirits, and like Western countries, sang the lead with low-grade wines such as red and white wines. According to international practice, we will entertain Yeltsin in this way, and there will be no problem of neglecting him.
Lu Peixin reported to President Yang Shangkun on this, and Yeltsin's visit was invited in his name. Yang Shangkun listened to the report and coldly asked, "Today... Got to use a white bar? “
Indeed, in China, there are traditional liquor two pots with very similar methods and tastes to vodka, and it is of course more sincere to entertain Russian guests with "Chinese vodka".
However, under the reminder of Yang Shangkun, Lu Peixin thought further, and he decided to take out the real trump card among the many chinese liquors, Moutai wine, which was specially provided for the VIPs at the first three tables, of which Yeltsin's main table was enough to prepare three bottles.
As we all know, Moutai wine has played an important role in the process of establishing diplomatic relations between China and the United States, and once made President Nixon of the United States and the famous Kissinger fall in love.
Sure enough, when the leaders of China and Russia arrived at the Diaoyutai State Guest House after a pleasant meeting, Yeltsin's interest rose as soon as he smelled the fragrant Moutai wine on the table.
Drinking Moutai wine was three or two small cups, only to see Yeltsin cup after cup, and the waiter could not even count how much he drank.
Perhaps through the strength of wine, Yeltsin said to General Secretary Jiang Zemin on the spot: "I have not listened to all of the foreign minister's suggestions. ”
Russian Foreign Minister Kozilev is a well-known pro-Western faction, and it is said that due to the delay of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Yeltsin's visit to China will be postponed until August.
In fact, this is exactly What Yeltsin envisioned for Russia's diplomatic strategy after independence, and his foreign policy is to achieve a balance in foreign relations, not only to develop friendly relations with Western countries, but also to further develop good-neighborly relations with neighboring countries, especially with China.
After the banquet, Lu Peixin came to the main table to count and found that Yeltsin had drunk a large bottle of Maotai, that is, a pound, and the amount of wine was really amazing.
Soon, the Diaoyutai waiter came to report that Yeltsin, who had returned to the room, asked to drink Maotai again, so Lu Peixin immediately sent two more bottles.
The successful meeting between the Leaders of China and Russia has exceeded the expectations of both sides. Before his visit to China, Yeltsin publicly told reporters that he was "uneasy" about the trip, which showed that he did not have an absolute grasp of the outcome of the negotiations in his heart.
For the first time in the post-Cold War era, China has hosted Russia's first president, and it did not expect much from Yeltsin's attitude.
But when Yeltsin stepped on the plane back to China, he took with him more than 20 cooperation documents, including the Joint Statement on the Basis of Mutual Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, which laid the foundation for Sino-Russian relations, and the two countries regarded each other as "friendly countries."
On the plane, there were also two large boxes full of Moutai wine, which were specially arranged by the attentive and thoughtful Director Lu Peixin, so that Yeltsin could still taste fine wine from China after returning to Moscow.
However, although the friendship of the Chinese was sincere, it was much more important to Russia and Yeltsin at that time, and another drinking friend.
US President Clinton has already laid down fine wine in the White House, waiting for Yeltsin to visit.
The president in his underwear on the streets of America to call a car
Not many people may believe that Yeltsin and the Chinese leaders talked about drinking at the elegant Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, but the first time he and Clinton had a drink, they hid in a toilet.
On January 12, 1994, Clinton paid her first official visit to Russia after attending the NATO summit.
NATO was built to deal with the Soviet Union, and after the end of the Cold War, many Eastern European countries that changed their governments expressed a keen interest in joining the sprawling military organization, which naturally put pressure on Russia's security.
Yeltsin knows that the real master behind NATO is the president of the United States, and now that Russia's national strength is not what it used to be, he must establish a good personal relationship with Clinton in order to expect the United States to restrain NATO from expanding.
So in the Kremlin, Yeltsin did everything in his power to entertain Clinton, even using the toilet.
It turned out that Clinton was also a hungry ghost in the wine, but because she was subject to Mrs. Hillary Clinton, she could not drink more than a few drinks during the visit, and in the face of Yeltsin taking bottle after bottle of expensive wine, Clinton could only look at the hungry eyes.
When Yeltsin saw this, he tacitly invited Clinton to the toilet.
When Clinton arrived at the beautifully decorated, spacious and bright Kremlin toilet, he found a large table of pure brewed vodka waiting for him.
These bottles of fine wine exchanged Yeltsin for a piece of the US-Russian Moscow Declaration, declaring that the two countries had formed a "mature strategic partnership."
In October 1995, Yeltsin returned to Washington, D.C., and this time Clinton no longer had to hide in the name of entertaining the Russian president, but had a drunken break with Yeltsin.
But during the visit, something unexpected happened, and Clinton recorded it: The Americans allowed Yeltsin to drink without restriction, causing him to run to the crowded Pennsylvania Avenue in the middle of the night wearing only his underwear and drunkenly clamoring to go to the pizzeria.
Apparently, Clinton didn't mind seeing the Russian president blatantly ugly in the United States, saying in his memoirs with obvious sarcasm: "Yeltsin did get pizza." ”
At the press conference the next day, Clinton, who in Yeltsin's eyes was "energetic and always smiling," patted himself on the shoulder, smiling so hard that he leaned forward and backward, and the tears were about to come out.
Yeltsin looked at his drunken friends with a grim face, and he may feel a little confused, what could make Clinton happy to this point?
Who are the true friends?
Yeltsin tasted his beloved Moutai again on a state visit to China on April 24, 1996.
Originally considering that he had just undergone heart bypass surgery, the Chinese side thoughtfully did not prepare liquor. However, unable to resist Yeltsin's strong thoughts about Moutai, General Secretary Jiang Zemin went up to three more cups.
Although Moutai was fragrant, it could not unravel the dullness of Yeltsin's heart after all.
In the 1990s, the United States long accounted for about a quarter of the world's GDP, about a dozen times that of Russia and China. Therefore, it is quite normal for Russia to be filled with figures like Kozilev.
Yeltsin trusted the theories of the pro-Western deputy prime minister Heydar, chubais, the "father of privatization," and the American liberal economist Jeffrey Sachs, and tried to promote "shock therapy" in Russia.
At the same time, he continually drew sweet assurances from Clinton: "I will support Russian President Boris Yeltsin's efforts to build a well-run and well-functioning democracy after the collapse of the Soviet Union" and "we will jointly address the security challenges of our time."
The naïve Yeltsin was too convinced that his personal relationship with Clinton could cover up the geopolitical contradictions between the United States and Russia and dispel the Ambition of the United States to completely dominate the world.
Actually? Shock therapy caused the biggest disaster after Russia's independence, in 1992, Russia's GDP was slightly higher than China's, ranking 9th in the world; the next year, Russia's GDP did not rise but fell, and was surpassed by China in one fell swoop; by 1996, China ranked 7th in the world, while Russia actually fell to 16th, with GDP less than half of China's.
At the same time as productivity declined, prices in Russia rose two hundredfold, and inflation reached the point where the people were not able to make a living.
Since Russia has no time to take care of itself, the so-called "Moscow Declaration" has naturally become a piece of waste paper, and NATO has proposed since 1994 that it is open to accepting Eastern European countries.
In March 1999, NATO absorbed Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, achieved its first eastward expansion, and brazenly used the Kosovo incident to bomb the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without warning Russia in advance.
Today's Russian-Ukrainian conflict is the product of NATO's unbridled expansion.
It was only now that Yeltsin woke up, and it turned out that he and Clinton had exchanged cups and cups before, but they were only toyed with by each other.
An enraged Yeltsin immediately hung up the phone with Clinton: "There will be no more great desires and friendships that we had before." No more. ”
In fact, he should have known that the so-called "great desires and friendships" ceased to exist, at least when he was naked and blowing cold winds on pennsylvania Avenue.
However, when things came to this point, Yeltsin could not do more than send a small force to seize the Airport of Pristina to vent his anger, and could only watch the collapse of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Disheartened, Yeltsin decisively made the decision to resign early that year and put Putin on the presidential throne.
In 2001, Yeltsin's first foreign visit after leaving office was chosen in Dalian, China. Whose wine is more mellow? Russia has made its choice.