University Press.
MARTIN DIMNIK
(d. 1246), grand prince of Vladimir and grand prince of Kiev.
Before dying in 1212, Yaroslav’s father Vsevolod Yurevich “Big Nest” gave Yaroslav the patrimony of Pereyaslavl Zalessky. In 1215 Yaroslav also occupied Novgorod, but lost control of it in 1216 when he joined Yuri against their senior brother Konstantin, who defeated them at the river Lipitsa. After the latter died in 1218, Yuri replaced him as grand prince of Vladimir. Although Yaroslav helped Yuri campaign against the Polovtsy and the Volga Bulgars, his main objective was to assert his rule over Novgorod. He helped the citizens by marching against the Lithuanians, the Chud, and other tribes. In his quest for more power over the town, he antagonized many Novgorodians to the point where, in 1224, they asked Mikhail Vsevolodovich of Chernigov for
help. After the latter occupied Novgorod and curtailed Yaroslav’s authority, he developed a lifelong hatred for Mikhail. In 1232 Yaroslav finally secured his rule in Novgorod; in 1236 he briefly occupied Kiev. After the Tatars killed his brother Yuri in 1238, Yaroslav became grand prince of Vladimir and appointed his sons Alexander “Nevsky” and Andrei to Novgorod. In 1243 Yaroslav traveled to Saray, where he was the first prince to submit to the khan Batu. Although the khan made him the grand prince of Kiev, Yaroslav did not occupy it. More important was his acquisition of Batu’s patent for Vladimir, through which he secured the town for his heirs. Two years later the Tatars summoned Yaroslav to Mongolia, to the Great Khan’s court in Karakorum, where they poisoned him. He died on September 30, 1246. See also: ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH; BATU KHAN; GOLDEN HORDE; GRAND PRINCE; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; VSEVOLOD III; YURI VSEVOLODOVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fennell, John. (1983). The Crisis of Medieval Russia., 1200-1304. London: Longman.
Following this victory, the Novgorodians asked him to be their prince; in 1265 he agreed to rule according to their terms. While waging war against Novgorod’s enemies and concluding treaties with German merchant groups on its behalf, he also increased his power over the town. His heavy-handed measures, however, antagonized the citizens, and they expelled him in 1270. Yaroslav attacked Novgorod, and, after Metropolitan Cyril intervened, the townspeople accepted him as prince. Yaroslav was summoned to Saray but died on September 16, 1271, while traveling from the Tatars. See also: ALEXANDER YAROSLAVICH; GOLDEN HORDE; GRAND PRINCE; KIEVAN RUS; NOVGOROD THE GREAT; POLOVTSY; YAROSLAV VSEVOLODOVICH
Fennell, John. (1983). The Crisis of Medieval Russia, 1200-1304. London: Longman. Martin, Janet. (1995). Medieval Russia, 980-1584. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
MARTIN DIMNIK YAROSLAV THE WISE See YAROSLAV VLADIMIROVICH.
YAROSLAV YAROSLAVICH
(d. 1271), grand prince of Vladimir, the first independent prince of Tver, and the progenitor of the town’s dynasty.
Yaroslav Yaroslavich became prince of Tver in 1247 when his uncle Svyatoslav gave patrimonies to all his nephews, the sons of Yaroslav Vsevolodo-vich. Soon after, Yaroslav’s elder brothers, Alexander “Nevsky” and Andrei, quarreled over succession to the patrimonial capital of Vladimir. Yaroslav sided with Andrei. In 1252 the khan Batu sent a punitive force against them, and they were defeated at Pereyaslavl Zalessky. Nevertheless, Yaroslav remained at odds with Alexander and had to flee from Tver two years later. In 1255 the Novgorodians invited him to rule, but he withdrew from the town after Alexander threatened to attack. Later he was reconciled with his brother, and, in 1258, he traveled to the Golden Horde and received the patent for Tver. After Alexander died in 1262, Yaroslav challenged his elder brother Andrei for control of Vladimir and sought help from Saray. In 1263 Khan Berke appointed him grand prince of Vladimir.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY
(b. 1952), liberal economist and party leader.
Grigory Alexeyevich Yavlinsky was a prominent advocate of economic reform under Mikhail Gorbachev and went on to found Yabloko, one of the few liberal parties to survive the turbulent 1990s. Yavlinsky was a consistent advocate of market reform, liberal democracy, and partnership with the West, but his principled stance meant that he declined repeated invitations from President Boris Yeltsin to take up a government position.
Yavlinsky was born into a teacher’s family in Lvov (Ukraine) and studied labor economics in Moscow, finishing a graduate degree in 1976. He worked at various research institutes before being appointed deputy head of the new State Commission for Economic Reform in 1989. The next year he coauthored the bold “400 days” reform plan (later renamed “500 days”), which was never implemented because of the political chaos that preceded the Soviet collapse.
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During the August 1991 coup, Yavlinsky joined the defenders of the White House, and afterwards he became deputy prime minister in the new Soviet government, which fell when the USSR was dissolved in December. Rival economist Yegor Gaidar joined Yeltsin’s team in the Russian Federation government, and it was he, not Yavlinsky, who oversaw Russia’s transition to a market economy. Yavlinsky was left criticizing the program of what he called “nomenklatura privatization” from the sidelines.
Yavlinsky’s consuming ambition was to be elected as president. Intelligent, articulate, and principled, he had some important admirers in the West. But he was less successful in forging alliances with other politicians (i.e., regional leaders, or retired general Alexander Lebed) that could have brought him closer to power.
Given the absence of an obvious successor, had Yeltsin resigned on health grounds, Yavlinsky would have had a good shot at the presidency. However, the sickly Yeltsin soldiered on. In the first round of the presidential election on June 16, 1996, Yavlinsky placed a disappointing fourth with 7.3 percent. Yavlinsky reportedly received substantial financial backing from banks such as Most and Menatep; he was certainly able to mount an expensive TV ad campaign. Yavlinsky refused to support Yeltsin in the second round of the election, thereby deeply angering the Yeltsin camp.
Yavlinsky hung on, waiting for Yeltsin’s resignation. After the August 1998 financial crisis brought down Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko, the communists in the Duma refused to approve the return of Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Yavlinsky resolved the impasse by proposing Yevgeny Primakov as a compromise candidate. But then, in typical Yavlinsky fashion, he refused to join Primakov’s cabinet.
When Yeltsin resigned in December 1999 he was able to hand over the presidency to his chosen successor, Prime Mnister Vladimir Putin, who easily won election in March 2000. Yavlinsky ran once again, but finished a distant third, with 4.8 percent. He then stood by as Putin went on to introduce many of the reforms that Yavlinsky had advocated for years: a flat tax on income and profits, land reform, and tighter control over oil revenues.
Yavlinsky comes across as a man of integrity and ambition who failed to realize his potential. In
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the words of one commentator, he was “the best president Russia never had.” See also: AUGUST 1991 PUTSCH; YABLOKO
Rutland, Peter. (1999). “The Man Who Would Be King: A Profile of Grigorii Yavlinskii.” Problems of Post- Communism 46: 48-54.
