There was a PBS documentary on Putin a few years ago. Bill Clinton was speaking to Yeltsin about Putin, and said something along the lines of "I don't think he has democracy in his heart." And Yeltson allegedly started tearing up. The story was that Putin was appointed PM and later President because he would protect Yeltsin from prosecution or attack, since he was wildly unpopular in his second term.I'm not sure how much the Yeltsins knew about Putin, and could've foreseen how things would turn out decades later.