Masha Gessen, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (2012), pp. 12-13
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Yeltsin was not just an unpopular president: he was the first politician who Russians ever trusted—and the disappointment his people now felt was every bit as bitter as the support he had enjoyed had once been inspiring.

— Masha Gessen

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Yeltsin was not just an unpopular president: he was the first politician who Russians ever trusted—and the disappointment his people now felt was every bit as bitter as the support he had enjoyed had once been inspiring." in the context of "Masha Gessen, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (2012), pp. 12-13" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Boris Yeltsin" (Quotes about Yeltsin) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Boris Yeltsin

About Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin Бори́с Никола́евич Е́льцин (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Russian and former Soviet politician who served as the first President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990, he later stood as a political independent, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with liberalism and Russian nationalism.