Yeltsin Was Strong Manager, Did Not Doubt Gaidar Reforms - Shevchenko
MOSCOW. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Vladimir Shevchenko, the head of the protocol service for Russia's first President Boris Yeltsin, said Yeltsin had outstanding leadership qualities.
"I was very lucky to work with a person like Boris Nikolayevich. He was very professional and a strong leader. If he realized that a difficult decision had to be made, if unpopular decisions had to be made for the further development of the country, he made them," Shevchenko told Interfax.
"I saw how difficult the switch to Gaidar's reforms was for him. However, he was not a populist and was convinced that the people and the country would eventually benefit from them," Shevchenko told Interfax.
Shevchenko said he had a trusting relationship with Yeltsin.
"However, I would like to reiterate that I have never exceeded my powers and never even tried to discuss the situation in the structures that were outside my terms of reference," he said.
Shevchenko said Yeltsin "knew that I never took part in so-called "underground" games, but at the same time closely monitored the implementation of all measures related to the protocol of Russia's first president."
Shevchenko became head of Russia's first president's protocol service in 1992 and was never replaced.
Yeltsin would have turned eighty on February 1, 2011.
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