Stephen Kinzer: “In 1996, Boris Yeltsin had to run for reelection. Everybody…”

“And I give you one other great example of American interference. It came when Bill Clinton was president. In 1996, Boris Yeltsin had to run for reelection. Everybody hated him in Russia. His approval ratings were in the single digits. And Bill Clinton told his team, I want this guy to win so bad it hurts. So he mobilized all of his resources. Right before the election, Yeltsin received hundreds of a huge pile, billions of dollars from the International Monetary Fund to distribute among the oligarchs and all the others who controlled votes.” (53:11–53:25)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.