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| Where Some May Say No Thanks for the Memories | Where Some May Say No Thanks for the Memories |
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| YEKATERINBURG, Russia — On the embankment of the lake at the heart of this city in the Urals, a half-built shopping center is slowly being turned into a monument to a man and an era that few in Russia remember fondly at all, even in the man’s native region. | |
| The complex, the Boris N. Yeltsin Presidential Center, modeled on those that commemorate former presidents in the United States, will soon become the first in a country where official history has more often rewritten or erased the legacies of departed leaders, not celebrated them. | The complex, the Boris N. Yeltsin Presidential Center, modeled on those that commemorate former presidents in the United States, will soon become the first in a country where official history has more often rewritten or erased the legacies of departed leaders, not celebrated them. |
| Given that President Vladimir V. Putin has more or less done the same with Mr. Yeltsin, repudiating the policies of the man who plucked him from political obscurity to become Russia’s second president on New Year’s Eve in 1999, the project is, to say the least, a little awkward. | Given that President Vladimir V. Putin has more or less done the same with Mr. Yeltsin, repudiating the policies of the man who plucked him from political obscurity to become Russia’s second president on New Year’s Eve in 1999, the project is, to say the least, a little awkward. |
| “I doubt that people will rush to see it,” Yelena Gabareyeva, 33, said, delivering her own historical verdict on Mr. Yeltsin, as she strolled with her husband and children beside the reservoir, filled with small sailboats coursing back and forth on a sunny spring day. | “I doubt that people will rush to see it,” Yelena Gabareyeva, 33, said, delivering her own historical verdict on Mr. Yeltsin, as she strolled with her husband and children beside the reservoir, filled with small sailboats coursing back and forth on a sunny spring day. |
| Even with the center’s construction, she lamented the “destruction” that always seems entwined with the Yeltsin legacy in the popular imagination: in this case, of historic wooden houses along what is now Boris Yeltsin Street, torn down for an office development called Yekaterinburg City. | Even with the center’s construction, she lamented the “destruction” that always seems entwined with the Yeltsin legacy in the popular imagination: in this case, of historic wooden houses along what is now Boris Yeltsin Street, torn down for an office development called Yekaterinburg City. |
| Mr. Yeltsin, the ebullient, erratic leader who served as Russia’s first elected president from 1991 to 1999, still has his admirers, of course. Many of them, aides during his presidency, now work for the charitable foundation that Mr. Yeltsin started after stepping down, and they argue that history will be kinder to Yeltsin than Mr. Putin’s Kremlin has been. | Mr. Yeltsin, the ebullient, erratic leader who served as Russia’s first elected president from 1991 to 1999, still has his admirers, of course. Many of them, aides during his presidency, now work for the charitable foundation that Mr. Yeltsin started after stepping down, and they argue that history will be kinder to Yeltsin than Mr. Putin’s Kremlin has been. |
| “The goal is to show who Boris Yeltsin was, with all his good and bad properties: what he was doing, how he came to Moscow, what changes he introduced and what Russia, democratic Russia, gained thanks to him,” said Vladimir N. Shevchenko, the Kremlin’s chief of protocol under Mr. Yeltsin and one of those involved in the center’s creation. | “The goal is to show who Boris Yeltsin was, with all his good and bad properties: what he was doing, how he came to Moscow, what changes he introduced and what Russia, democratic Russia, gained thanks to him,” said Vladimir N. Shevchenko, the Kremlin’s chief of protocol under Mr. Yeltsin and one of those involved in the center’s creation. |
| The idea of building a presidential center arose even before Mr. Yeltsin’s death in 2007, at age 76, and the center’s directors visited the libraries of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton for inspiration — contentious enough at a time when many things American are officially greeted with vitriol. | The idea of building a presidential center arose even before Mr. Yeltsin’s death in 2007, at age 76, and the center’s directors visited the libraries of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton for inspiration — contentious enough at a time when many things American are officially greeted with vitriol. |
| The center is scheduled to open here in October, offering a wary public the chance to reconsider the full scope of Mr. Yeltsin’s achievements and failures. That Mr. Yeltsin played an outsize role in the political upheaval that ended the Soviet Union is hardly disputed, but the consequences of his actions are very much so. He ushered in a new chapter of democratic freedoms and a sort of capitalism, at the cost of chaos, crime, a civil war in Chechnya and a corrupted oligarchy that enriched a few and left millions in ruin. | The center is scheduled to open here in October, offering a wary public the chance to reconsider the full scope of Mr. Yeltsin’s achievements and failures. That Mr. Yeltsin played an outsize role in the political upheaval that ended the Soviet Union is hardly disputed, but the consequences of his actions are very much so. He ushered in a new chapter of democratic freedoms and a sort of capitalism, at the cost of chaos, crime, a civil war in Chechnya and a corrupted oligarchy that enriched a few and left millions in ruin. |
| Mr. Putin has occasionally praised Mr. Yeltsin. A year after Mr. Yeltsin’s death, Mr. Putin called him one of the 20th century’s “most outstanding politicians.” More regularly, though, he denounces the Yeltsin years as an era of chaos at home and weakness abroad, justifying his policies from constraining the news media to, more recently, annexing Crimea. Mr. Putin, to his critics, has unraveled many of the freedoms that Russia enjoyed, for better or worse, in the Yeltsin era. | Mr. Putin has occasionally praised Mr. Yeltsin. A year after Mr. Yeltsin’s death, Mr. Putin called him one of the 20th century’s “most outstanding politicians.” More regularly, though, he denounces the Yeltsin years as an era of chaos at home and weakness abroad, justifying his policies from constraining the news media to, more recently, annexing Crimea. Mr. Putin, to his critics, has unraveled many of the freedoms that Russia enjoyed, for better or worse, in the Yeltsin era. |
| “Yeltsin scored a lot by resigning deliberately and freely,” said Aleksandr A. Drozdov, director of a charitable foundation known as the Yeltsin Center (and distinct from the Presidential Center). “And now despite all of Mr. Putin’s ratings, the longer he stays in power, the worse it will be for him, because it will end in the same way as in the old days. One aspect of preserving the tradition of the presidency is to respect the moment of passing the torch from one hand to the other.” | “Yeltsin scored a lot by resigning deliberately and freely,” said Aleksandr A. Drozdov, director of a charitable foundation known as the Yeltsin Center (and distinct from the Presidential Center). “And now despite all of Mr. Putin’s ratings, the longer he stays in power, the worse it will be for him, because it will end in the same way as in the old days. One aspect of preserving the tradition of the presidency is to respect the moment of passing the torch from one hand to the other.” |
| A law establishing presidential centers — not just for Mr. Yeltsin — was adopted in 2008 in the waning days of Mr. Putin’s second term as president, but he left it to his own anointed successor, Dmitri A. Medvedev, to sign the law. Mr. Putin wanted to make sure “people don’t think I am doing it for myself,” Mr. Shevchenko said the president told him. | A law establishing presidential centers — not just for Mr. Yeltsin — was adopted in 2008 in the waning days of Mr. Putin’s second term as president, but he left it to his own anointed successor, Dmitri A. Medvedev, to sign the law. Mr. Putin wanted to make sure “people don’t think I am doing it for myself,” Mr. Shevchenko said the president told him. |
| Mr. Putin, having completed two terms, is theoretically eligible to begin construction of his own center, but a Kremlin spokeswoman dismissed the very idea as premature. Mr. Putin’s current term, his third, began in 2012 after Mr. Medvedev served for a single four-year term, with Mr. Putin serving as his overshadowing prime minister. | Mr. Putin, having completed two terms, is theoretically eligible to begin construction of his own center, but a Kremlin spokeswoman dismissed the very idea as premature. Mr. Putin’s current term, his third, began in 2012 after Mr. Medvedev served for a single four-year term, with Mr. Putin serving as his overshadowing prime minister. |
| With a constitutional change extending the terms to six years, Mr. Putin’s term does not end until 2018, and he is widely assumed to be planning another term after that. The press office of Mr. Medvedev, now prime minister, declined to respond to requests about the plans, if any, for a Medvedev presidential center. | With a constitutional change extending the terms to six years, Mr. Putin’s term does not end until 2018, and he is widely assumed to be planning another term after that. The press office of Mr. Medvedev, now prime minister, declined to respond to requests about the plans, if any, for a Medvedev presidential center. |
| Yekaterinburg, a city of 1.3 million people roughly 900 miles east of Moscow, was an obvious choice for Yeltsin’s center, also in the American tradition. Mr. Yeltsin was born in 1931 in Butka, a village 150 miles farther east. He later studied in Yekaterinburg, then known as Sverdlovsk, and rose through the Communist ranks to run the city before he moved to Moscow. | Yekaterinburg, a city of 1.3 million people roughly 900 miles east of Moscow, was an obvious choice for Yeltsin’s center, also in the American tradition. Mr. Yeltsin was born in 1931 in Butka, a village 150 miles farther east. He later studied in Yekaterinburg, then known as Sverdlovsk, and rose through the Communist ranks to run the city before he moved to Moscow. |
| For the center’s design, the foundation hired Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the company that designed the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark., and the new Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. The building itself, initially intended to be a mall, was a gift of the federal government, which also allotted an initial budget of nearly $100 million to complete the center. The foundation also raises private donations. | For the center’s design, the foundation hired Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the company that designed the William J. Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Ark., and the new Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow. The building itself, initially intended to be a mall, was a gift of the federal government, which also allotted an initial budget of nearly $100 million to complete the center. The foundation also raises private donations. |
| The center will include a research center, conference halls and a museum intended to depict the sweep of history during Mr. Yeltsin’s life — from the Gulag to World War II, from perestroika to Mr. Yeltsin’s decision to appoint Mr. Putin. The Putin section, Mr. Shevchenko said, will show others who were considered but passed over. | The center will include a research center, conference halls and a museum intended to depict the sweep of history during Mr. Yeltsin’s life — from the Gulag to World War II, from perestroika to Mr. Yeltsin’s decision to appoint Mr. Putin. The Putin section, Mr. Shevchenko said, will show others who were considered but passed over. |
| Exhibits will include Mr. Yeltsin’s Kremlin office — not a replica, but a reconstruction fitted out with the furnishings removed when he left — as well as a recreation of the barricade in Moscow where he famously stood atop a tank while resisting the putsch in August 1991. | Exhibits will include Mr. Yeltsin’s Kremlin office — not a replica, but a reconstruction fitted out with the furnishings removed when he left — as well as a recreation of the barricade in Moscow where he famously stood atop a tank while resisting the putsch in August 1991. |
| Konstantin V. Kiselyov, a political strategist in Yekaterinburg and a staunch supporter of Mr. Yeltsin, expressed doubt that the authorities would allow an unvarnished view of Mr. Yeltsin, especially as it concerns the current president. “Not enough time has passed, and the authorities are not interested in discussion,” he said. | Konstantin V. Kiselyov, a political strategist in Yekaterinburg and a staunch supporter of Mr. Yeltsin, expressed doubt that the authorities would allow an unvarnished view of Mr. Yeltsin, especially as it concerns the current president. “Not enough time has passed, and the authorities are not interested in discussion,” he said. |
| Though the archives will include many of Mr. Yeltsin’s presidential papers, other documents involving matters of national security remain tightly sealed. | Though the archives will include many of Mr. Yeltsin’s presidential papers, other documents involving matters of national security remain tightly sealed. |
| Whether Russians are ready to re-evaluate the Yeltsin legacy remains to be seen. In the city, many people seemed uninterested or even disdainful. In 2012, a statue of Mr. Yeltsin in white marble that now stands outside the building was defaced with blue paint, while the lettering on the base was smashed to bits. | Whether Russians are ready to re-evaluate the Yeltsin legacy remains to be seen. In the city, many people seemed uninterested or even disdainful. In 2012, a statue of Mr. Yeltsin in white marble that now stands outside the building was defaced with blue paint, while the lettering on the base was smashed to bits. |
| Another woman strolling along the lake, Alla Selenova, was more forgiving. She acknowledged Mr. Yeltsin’s abysmal reputation, but noted his historical significance as the first elected Russian leader — ever. As for the museum, she added, “It will need a good P.R. campaign.” | Another woman strolling along the lake, Alla Selenova, was more forgiving. She acknowledged Mr. Yeltsin’s abysmal reputation, but noted his historical significance as the first elected Russian leader — ever. As for the museum, she added, “It will need a good P.R. campaign.” |