In May 1990 Yeltsin was elected president of Russia—the largest and most important of the Soviet republics—and a month later, on June 12, 1990, Russia’s Supreme Soviet followed the example of Lithuania and voted for Russia’s sovereignty, even though nobody knew what this really meant. The idea of Russian sovereignty seemed absurd. As Chudakova noted in her diary at the time, “Who is Russia seeking sovereignty from, the polar bears?” But then she added, “Perhaps this is an ugly and strange way of overcoming several decades of nonhistoric life.”9
