Boris Yeltsin

Biography

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born on February 1, 1931, in Butka, a village in the Ural Oblast of the Soviet Union. He spent his childhood in Kazan and Berezniki before heading to the Ural State Technical University to study civil engineering. After graduating, he worked in construction and became known as a skilled and tough master builder. In 1961, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and steadily rose through the ranks, becoming First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Oblast committee in 1976, a role in one of the country's key industrial regions.

Initially, Yeltsin supported Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms in the mid-1980s but grew unhappy with how slow and limited they were, feeling they needed to go further. In 1987, he made history as the first person to quit the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a brave move that made him a strong voice of opposition within the system. This boosted his public profile, and he was seen as a leader against communist norms. By 1990, he was elected chair of the Russian Supreme Soviet, and in June 1991, he became the first popularly elected head of state in Russian history after winning the presidency of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic through a direct vote.

When the Soviet Union formally dissolved in December 1991, Yeltsin played a key role by coordinating with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus. The RSFSR then became the independent Russian Federation, with Yeltsin continuing as president. He faced the big challenge of changing Russia's command economy into a capitalist market economy. His strategy involved economic shock therapy, quick privatization, and currency liberalization, which caused severe economic hardships for many Russians while dismantling the Soviet economic system.

Yeltsin's time in office during the 1990s was full of political turmoil, including a 1993 constitutional crisis where tanks fired on the parliament building and two brutal conflicts in Chechnya. Despite these problems, he won the 1996 presidential election, though the fairness of the election was questioned due to his use of state resources and control over major media. His health worsened during his second term, reducing his public appearances. On December 31, 1999, Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned from the presidency, passing power to his chosen prime minister, Vladimir Putin. He passed away on April 23, 2007, in Moscow, leaving behind his wife, Naina Yeltsina, whom he had married many years earlier.