Quote Originally Posted by bad manners
Strangely, the same argument when applied to Stalin becomes: "have you seen the recently confirmed charts of those arrested and executed when Stalin was in power? Of course he was in power and so he was responsible. So one can simply blame him for everything."
Where did I say that? Any governor is responsible, more that anyone else. But the responsibility and blame are different things. And in both cases (Yeltsin, Stalin, whoever) it is ridiculous to blame for everything.

However, one little, but principal difference does exist. Yeltsin has been elected in 1991 directly by people (let's set aside 1996, it's another story). So the nation bears direct responsibility for its choice and fate.

In case of Stalin it is not so simple, although my general point is that eventually it is nation's responsibility, too.