At a press conference held in the wake of the September 1999 apartment bombings, then-Prime Minister Putin declared that he would “whack terrorists in the crapper.” In so doing, he reinforced his image as a strong and somewhat thuggish leader, ultimately boosting his popularity ahead of the 2000 presidential election.

Televised footage of the USSR’s first Congress of People’s Deputies in 1989. So many Soviet citizens tuned in to the live broadcast that production rates fell nationwide.