What happened to the new democratic government of russia?

When then-President Boris Yeltsin stood on a tank in 1991, waving a fist in defiance of communist hard-liners, he heralded a new dawn for Russia. The Soviet Union collapsed months later, promising to usher in a new era of Western-style democracy. But at the end of Yeltsin's rule, eight years later, democracy had become a dirty word for most Russians. President Vladimir Putin often is praised for bringing an end to what some see as a reign of lawlessness and corruption under Yeltsin, his predecessor. But not everyone agrees. Some officials who ran the government under Yeltsin say Putin has put an end to a period of positive change.