WI Yeltsin dies in 1992 or 1993?

POD: Sometime between January 1991 and October 1993. Yeltsin dies, and is succeeded by his Vice-President, Alexander Rutskoi.

In OTL, Rutskoi, an Afghan war hero, stayed loyal to Yeltsin during the failed Soviet coup of August 1991. However, during the October 1993 constitutional crisis, he sided with the Communist and nationalist legislators in parliament, proclaiming himself acting president. And in 1994, after being released from prison, he founded his own nationalist political party, "Derzhava" ("Reich"), declaring his support for reconstituting the USSR.

So what happens if Rutskoi actually becomes Russian president?

Possibly, a Putin-like (or worse) authoritarian regime almost a decade earlier.

Also, possibly a Russo-Ukrainian war over the Black Sea Fleet, which came somewhat close to happening during the early 90s in OTL.

If such a conflict happens, Russia fairly quickly takes control of Russian-speaking southern and eastern Ukraine, which then joins Russia in forming the nucleus of a new union, one which could eventually include Belarus, portions of Georgia, Transnistria, etc.

And if it happens in 1992, then it could change the result of the US presidential election that year. Clinton would not have been elected if the Cold War had still been going on. If the top story in US news media is a scary-seeming Russian leader (who with his mustache, even looks a bit like Stalin) invading another country to resurrect the Soviet Union, that could give Bush I the 5-point boost he needs to win a second term.
 
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