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Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as
President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...
from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
(CPSU) from 1961 to 1990. He later stood as a
political independent An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...
, during which time he was viewed as being ideologically aligned with
liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...
. Yeltsin was born in Butka,
Ural Oblast Ural Oblast may refer to the following administrative units: * Ural Oblast (1868–1920) (1868–1920), in the Russian Empire * , in the Russian Republic * Ural Oblast (1923–1934), an ''oblast'' of Soviet Russia * Uralsk Oblast (1962–1992), t ...
. He would grow up in
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
and
Berezniki Berezniki (; Komi-Permyak: ) is the second-largest city in Perm Krai, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural Mountains with a population of 135,533 as of 2023. Etymology The name Berezniki is derived from a ...
. He worked in construction after studying at the
Ural State Technical University Ural State Technical University (USTU) is a public technical university in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation. It is the biggest technical institution of higher education in Russia, with close ties to local industry in the Urals. ...
. After joining the Communist Party, he rose through its ranks, and in 1976, he became First Secretary of the party's
Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...
committee. Yeltsin was initially a supporter of the ''
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
'' reforms of Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
. He later criticized the reforms as being too moderate and called for a transition to a
multi-party In political science, a multi-party system is a political system where more than two meaningfully-distinct political parties regularly run for office and win elections. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries using proportional r ...
representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies func ...
. In 1987, he was the first person to resign from the
Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, abbreviated as Politburo, was the de facto highest executive authority in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). While elected by and formally a ...
, which established his popularity as an anti-establishment figure and after which he earned the reputation of the leader of the
anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
movement. In 1990, he was elected chair of the
Russian Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, later the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR from 1938 to 1990; between 1990 and 1993, it was a permanent legislature (parliament), elected ...
and in 1991 was elected president of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
(RSFSR), becoming the first popularly-elected head of state in Russian history. Yeltsin allied with various non-Russian
nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...
leaders and was instrumental in the formal
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
in December of that year. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the RSFSR became the Russian Federation, an independent state. Through that transition, Yeltsin remained in office as president. He was later re-elected in the
1996 Russian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Russia on 16 June 1996, with a second round being held on 3 July 1996. It resulted in a victory for the incumbent Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who ran as an independent politician. Yeltsin defeated the Co ...
, which critics claimed to be pervasively corrupt. He oversaw the transition of Russia's
command economy A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...
into a capitalist
market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...
by implementing economic shock therapy, market exchange rate of the
ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...
, nationwide privatization, and lifting of
price controls Price controls are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of go ...
.
Economic downturn In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...
, volatility, and
inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...
ensued. Amid the economic shift, a small number of oligarchs obtained most of the national property and wealth, while international monopolies dominated the market. A
constitutional crisis In political science, a constitutional crisis is a problem or conflict in the function of a government that the constitution, political constitution or other fundamental governing law is perceived to be unable to resolve. There are several variat ...
emerged in 1993 after Yeltsin ordered the unconstitutional dissolution of the
Russian parliament The Federal Assembly is the bicameral national legislature of Russia. The upper house is the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council, and the lower house is the State Duma. The assembly was established by the Constitution of the Russian F ...
, leading parliament to
impeach Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Euro ...
him. The crisis ended after troops loyal to Yeltsin stormed the parliament building and stopped an armed uprising; he then introduced a new constitution which significantly expanded the powers of the president. After the crisis, Yeltsin governed the country in a
rule by decree Rule by decree is a style of governance allowing quick, unchallenged promulgation of law by a single person or group of people, usually without legislative approval. While intended to allow rapid responses to a crisis, rule by decree is easily ab ...
until 1994, as the
Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...
of Russia was absent. Secessionist sentiment in the Russian Caucasus led to the
First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...
, War of Dagestan, and
Second Chechen War Names The Second Chechen War is also known as the Second Chechen Campaign () or the Second Russian Invasion of Chechnya from the Chechens, Chechen insurgents' point of view.Федеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 19 ...
between 1994 and 1999. Internationally, Yeltsin promoted renewed collaboration with Europe and signed
arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Historically, arms control may apply to melee wea ...
agreements with the United States. Amid growing internal pressure, he resigned by the end of 1999 and was succeeded as president by his chosen successor,
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
, whom he had appointed
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
a few months earlier. After leaving office, he kept a low profile and was accorded a state funeral upon his death in 2007. Domestically, he was highly popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although his reputation was damaged by the economic and political crises of his presidency, and he left office widely unpopular with the Russian population. He received praise and criticism for his role in dismantling the Soviet Union, transforming Russia into a representative democracy, and introducing new political, economic, and cultural freedoms to the country. Conversely, he was accused of economic mismanagement, abuse of presidential power, autocratic behavior, corruption, and of undermining Russia's standing as a major world power.


Early life, education and early career


1931–1948: childhood and adolescence

Boris Yeltsin was born on 1 February 1931 in the village of Butka, Talitsky District,
Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...
, then in the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
, one of the republics of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. His family, who were ethnic Russians, had lived in this area of the
Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
since at least the eighteenth century. His father, Nikolai Yeltsin, had married his mother, Klavdiya Vasilyevna Starygina, in 1928. Yeltsin always remained closer to his mother than to his father; the latter beat his wife and children on various occasions. The Soviet Union was then under the leadership of
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, who led the
one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a governance structure in which only a single political party controls the ruling system. In a one-party state, all opposition parties are either outlawed or en ...
governed by the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
(CPSU). Seeking to transform the country into a
socialist society The Socialist Society was founded in 1981 by a group of British socialists, including Raymond Williams and Ralph Miliband, who founded it as an organisation devoted to socialist education and research, linking the left of the British Labour Part ...
according to Marxist–Leninist doctrine, in the late 1920s Stalin's government had initiated a project of mass rural collectivisation coupled with
dekulakization Dekulakization (; ) was the Soviet campaign of Political repression in the Soviet Union#Collectivization, political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of supposed kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their familie ...
. As a prosperous farmer, Yeltsin's paternal grandfather, Ignatii, was accused of being a
kulak Kulak ( ; rus, кула́к, r=kulák, p=kʊˈɫak, a=Ru-кулак.ogg; plural: кулаки́, ''kulakí'', 'fist' or 'tight-fisted'), also kurkul () or golchomag (, plural: ), was the term which was used to describe peasants who owned over ...
in 1930. His farm, which was in Basmanovo (also known as Basmanovskoye), was confiscated, and he and his family were forced to reside in a cottage in nearby Butka. There, Nikolai and Ignatii's other children were allowed to join the local
kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...
(
collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...
), but Ignatii himself was not; he and his wife, Anna, were exiled in 1934 to Nadezhdinsk , where he died two years later. As an infant, Yeltsin was christened in the
Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
; his mother was devout, and his father unobservant. In the years after his birth, the area was hit by the famine of 1932–1933; throughout his childhood, Yeltsin was often hungry. In 1932, Yeltsin's parents moved to
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
, where Yeltsin attended
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
. There, in 1934, the
OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate ( rus, Объединённое государственное политическое управление, p=ɐbjɪdʲɪˈnʲɵn(ː)əjə ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əjə pəlʲɪˈtʲitɕɪskəjə ʊprɐˈv ...
state security services arrested Nikolai, accused him of
anti-Soviet agitation Anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda (ASA) () was a criminal offence in the Soviet Union. Initially, the term was interchangeably used with counter-revolutionary agitation. The latter term was in use immediately after the October Revolution of 1917 ...
, and sentenced him to three years in the
Dmitrov Dmitrov () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Dmitrovsky District, Moscow Oblast, Dmitrovsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located to the north of Moscow on the Yakhroma River and the Mosc ...
labor camp. Yeltsin and his mother then were ejected from their residence and were taken in by friends; Klavdiya worked at a garment factory in her husband's absence. In October 1936, Nikolai returned; in July 1937, the couple's second child, Mikhail, was born. That month, they moved to
Berezniki Berezniki (; Komi-Permyak: ) is the second-largest city in Perm Krai, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural Mountains with a population of 135,533 as of 2023. Etymology The name Berezniki is derived from a ...
, in
Perm Krai Perm Krai (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a Krais of Russia, krai), located in Eastern Europe. Its administrative center is Perm, Russia, Perm. The population of the krai was 2,532,405 (2021 Russian census, 2021 ...
, where Nikolai got work on a
potash Potash ( ) includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water- soluble form.
combine project. In July 1944, they had a third child, Valentina. Between 1939 and 1945, Yeltsin received a primary education at Berezniki's Railway School Number 95. Academically, he did well at primary school and was repeatedly elected class monitor by fellow pupils. There, he also took part in activities organized by the
Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...
and
Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization, abbreviated as the Young Pioneers, was a youth organization of the Soviet Union for children and adolescents ages 9–14 that existed between 1922 and 1991. History After the October Revol ...
. This overlapped with Soviet involvement in the Second World War, during which Yeltsin's paternal uncle, Andrian, served in the
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
and was killed. From 1945 to 1949, Yeltsin studied at the municipal secondary school number 1, also known as Pushkin High School. Yeltsin did well at secondary school, and there took an increasing interest in sports, becoming captain of the school's volleyball squad. He enjoyed playing pranks and in one instance played with a grenade, which blew off the thumb and index finger of his left hand. With friends, he would go on summer walking expeditions in the adjacent
taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...
, sometimes for many weeks.


1949–1960: university and career in construction

In September 1949, Yeltsin was admitted to the
Ural Polytechnic Institute Ural State Technical University (USTU) is a public technical university in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian Federation. It is the biggest technical institution of higher education in Russia, with close ties to local industry in the Urals. ...
(UPI) in Sverdlovsk. He took the stream in industrial and civil engineering, which included courses in maths, physics, materials and soil science, and draftsmanship. He was also required to study Marxist–Leninist doctrine and choose a language course, for which he selected German, although never became adept at it. Tuition was free and he was provided a small stipend to live on, which he supplemented by unloading railway trucks for a small wage. Academically, he achieved high grades, although temporarily dropped out in 1952 when afflicted with
tonsillitis Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils in the upper part of the throat. It can be acute or chronic. Acute tonsillitis typically has a rapid onset. Symptoms may include sore throat, fever, enlargement of the tonsils, trouble swallowing, and en ...
and
rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammation#Disorders, inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a Streptococcal pharyngitis, streptococcal throat infection. Si ...
. He devoted much time to
athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...
, and joined the UPI volleyball team. He avoided any involvement in political organizations while there. During the summer 1953 break, he traveled across the Soviet Union, touring the
Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
, central Russia,
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
, and
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
; much of the travel was achieved by hitchhiking on freight trains. It was at UPI that he began a relationship with Naina Iosifovna Girina, a fellow student who would later become his wife. Yeltsin completed his studies in June 1955. Leaving the Ural Polytechnic Institute, Yeltsin was assigned to work with the Lower Iset Construction Directorate in Sverdlovsk; at his request, he served the first year as a trainee in various building trades. He quickly rose through the organization's ranks. In June 1956 he was promoted to foreman (''master''), and in June 1957 was promoted again, to the position of work superintendent (''prorab''). In these positions, he confronted widespread alcoholism and a lack of motivation among construction workers, an irregular supply of materials, and the regular theft or vandalism of available materials. He soon imposed fines for those who damaged or stole materials or engaged in absenteeism, and closely monitored productivity. His work on the construction of a textile factory, for which he oversaw 1000 workers, brought him wider recognition. In June 1958 he became a senior work superintendent (''starshii prorab'') and in January 1960 was made head engineer (''glavni inzhener'') of Construction Directorate Number 13. At the same time, Yeltsin's family was growing; in September 1956, he married Girina. She soon got work at a scientific research institute, where she remained for 29 years. In August 1957, their daughter Yelena was born, followed by a second daughter, Tatyana, in January 1960. During this period, they moved through a succession of apartments. On family holidays, Yeltsin took his family to a lake in northern Russia and the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
coast.


CPSU career


1960–1975: early membership of the Communist Party

In March 1960, Yeltsin became a probationary member of the governing Communist Party and a full member in March 1961. In his later autobiography, he stated that his original reasons for joining were "sincere" and rooted in a genuine belief in the party's socialist ideals. In other interviews he instead stated that he joined because membership was a necessity for career advancement. His career continued to progress during the early 1960s; in February 1962 he was promoted chief (''nachal'nik'') of the construction directorate. In June 1963, Yeltsin was reassigned to the Sverdlovsk House-Building Combine as its head engineer, and in December 1965 became the combine's director. During this period he was largely involved in building residential housing, the expansion of which was a major priority for the government. He gained a reputation within the construction industry as a hard worker who was punctual and effective and who was used to meeting the targets set forth by the state apparatus. There had been plans to award him the
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
for his work, although this was scrapped after a five-story building he was constructing collapsed in March 1966. An official investigation found that Yeltsin was not culpable for the accident. Within the local Communist Party, Yeltsin gained a patron in , who became the first secretary of the party '' gorkom'' in 1963. In April 1968, Ryabov decided to recruit Yeltsin into the regional party apparatus, proposing him for a vacancy in the ''
obkom The organization of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was based on the principles of democratic centralism. The governing body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was the Party Congress, which initially met annually but whose m ...
'' department for construction. Ryabov ensured that Yeltsin got the job despite objections that he was not a longstanding party member. That year, Yeltsin and his family moved into a four-room apartment on Mamin-Sibiryak Street, downtown Sverdlovsk. Yeltsin then received his second
Order of the Red Banner of Labor The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...
for his work completing a cold-rolling mill at the Upper Iset Works, a project for which he had overseen the actions of 15,000 laborers. In the late 1960s, Yeltsin was permitted to visit the West for the first time as he was sent on a trip to France. In 1975, Yeltsin was then made one of the five ''obkom'' secretaries in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, a position that gave him responsibility not only for construction in the region but also for the forest and the pulp-and-paper industries. Also in 1975, his family relocated to a flat in the House of Old Bolsheviks on March Street.


1976–1985: First Secretary of Sverdlovsk Oblast

In October 1976, Ryabov was promoted to a new position in Moscow. He recommended that Yeltsin replace him as the First Secretary of the Party Committee in Sverdlovsk Oblast.
Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...
, who then led the Soviet Union as
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
of the party's Central Committee, interviewed Yeltsin personally to determine his suitability and agreed with Ryabov's assessment. At the Central Committee's recommendation, the Sverdlovsk obkom then unanimously voted to appoint Yeltsin as its first secretary. This made him one of the youngest provincial first secretaries in the RSFSR, and gave him significant power within the province. Where possible, Yeltsin tried to improve consumer welfare in the province, arguing that it would make for more productive workers. Under his provincial leadership, work started on various construction and infrastructure projects in the city of Sverdlovsk, including a subway system, the replacement of its barracks housing, new theaters and a circus, the refurbishment of its 1912 opera house, and youth housing projects to build new homes for young families. In September 1977, Yeltsin carried out orders to demolish the
Ipatiev House Ipatiev House () was a merchant's house in Yekaterinburg (city in 1924 renamed Sverdlovsk, in 1991 renamed back to Yekaterinburg) where the abdicated Emperor Nicholas II of Russia (1868–1918, reigned 1894–1917), all his immediate family, and ...
, the location where the
Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning dynasty, imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russi ...
royal family had been killed in 1918, over the government's fears that it was attracting growing foreign and domestic attention. He was also responsible for punishing those living in the province who wrote or published material that the Soviet government considered to be seditious or damaging to the established order. Yeltsin sat on the civil-military collegium of the
Urals Military District The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.
and attended its field exercises. In October 1978, the
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
gave him the rank of
colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
. Also in 1978, Yeltsin was elected without opposition to the
Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...
. In 1979 Yeltsin and his family moved into a five-room apartment at the Working Youth Embankment in Sverdlovsk. In February 1981, Yeltsin gave a speech to the 26th CPSU Congress and on the final day of the Congress was selected to join the Communist Party Central Committee. Yeltsin's reports to party meetings reflected the ideological
conformity Conformity or conformism is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to social group, group norms, politics or being like-minded. Social norm, Norms are implicit, specific rules, guidance shared by a group of individuals, that guide t ...
that was expected within the authoritarian state. Yeltsin played along with the
personality cult A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an ideali ...
surrounding Brezhnev, but he was contemptuous of what he saw as the Soviet leader's vanity and sloth. He later claimed to have quashed plans for a Brezhnev museum in Sverdlovsk. While First Secretary, his world-view began to shift, influenced by his reading; he kept up with a wide range of journals published in the country and also claimed to have read an illegally printed ''
samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...
'' copy of
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...
's ''
The Gulag Archipelago ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' () is a three-volume nonfiction series written between 1958 and 1968 by Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident. It was first published in 1973 by the Parisian ...
''. Many of his concerns about the Soviet system were prosaic rather than ideological, as he believed that the system was losing effectiveness and beginning to decay. He was increasingly faced with the problem of Russia's place within the Soviet Union; unlike other republics in the country, the RSFSR lacked the same levels of autonomy from the central government in Moscow. In the early 1980s, he and Yurii Petrov privately devised a tripartite scheme for reforming the Soviet Union that would involve strengthening the Russian government, but it was never presented publicly. By 1980, Yeltsin had developed the habit of appearing unannounced in factories, shops, and public transport to get a closer look at the realities of Soviet life. In May 1981, he held a question-and-answer session with college students at the Sverdlovsk Youth Palace, where he was unusually frank in his discussion of the country's problems. In December 1982 he then gave a television broadcast for the region in which he responded to various letters. This personalised approach to interacting with the public brought disapproval from some Communist Party figures, such as First Secretary of
Tyumen Oblast Tyumen Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is located in Western Siberia, and is administratively part of the Ural Federal District. The oblast has administrative jurisdiction over two autonomous ...
, Gennadii Bogomyakov, although the Central Committee showed no concern. In 1981, he was awarded the
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
for his work. The following year, Brezhnev died and was succeeded by
Yuri Andropov Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov ( – 9 February 1984) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from late 1982 until his death in 1984. He previously served as the List of Chairmen of t ...
, who in turn ruled for 15 months before his own death; Yeltsin spoke positively about Andropov. Andropov was succeeded by another short-lived leader,
Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko ( – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1984 until his death a year later. Born to a poor family in Siberia, Chernenko jo ...
. After his death, Yeltsin took part in the Central Committee plenum which appointed
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
the new
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissoluti ...
, and thus ''de facto''
Soviet leader During History of the Soviet Union, its 69-year history, the Soviet Union usually had a ''de facto'' leader who would not always necessarily be head of state or even head of government but would lead while holding an office such as General Sec ...
, in March 1985.


1985: relocation to Moscow to become Head of Gorkom

Gorbachev was interested in reforming the Soviet Union and, at the urging of
Yegor Ligachyov Yegor Kuzmich Ligachyov (also transliterated as Ligachev; ; 29 November 1920 – 7 May 2021) was a Soviet and Russian politician who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and who continued an active po ...
, the organizational secretary of the Central Committee, soon summoned Yeltsin to meet with him as a potential ally in his efforts. Yeltsin had some reservations about Gorbachev as a leader, deeming him controlling and patronizing, but committed himself to the latter's project of reform. In April 1985, Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin head of the Construction Department of the Party's Central Committee. Although it entailed moving to the capital city, Yeltsin was unhappy with what he regarded as a demotion. There, he was issued a
nomenklatura The ''nomenklatura'' (; from , system of names) were a category of people within the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries who held various key administrative positions in the bureaucracy, running all spheres of those countries' activity: ...
flat at 54 Second Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, where his daughter
Tatyana Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Origin Tatiana is a feminine, diminutive derivative of the Sabine—and later Latin� ...
and her son and husband soon joined him and his wife. Gorbachev soon promoted Yeltsin to secretary of the Central Committee for construction and capital investment, a position within the powerful CPSU Central Committee Secretariat, a move approved by the Central Committee plenum in July 1985.Leon Aron, ''Boris Yeltsin A Revolutionary Life''. HarperCollins, 2000. p. 739; . With Gorbachev's support, in December 1985, Yeltsin was installed as the first secretary of the Moscow gorkom of the CPSU. He was now responsible for managing the Soviet capital city, which had a population of 8.7 million. In February 1986, Yeltsin became a candidate (non-voting) member of the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
. At that point he formally left the Secretariat to concentrate on his role in Moscow. Over the coming year he removed many of the old secretaries of the gorkom, replacing them with younger individuals, particularly with backgrounds in factory management. In August 1986, Yeltsin gave a two-hour report to the party conference in which he talked about Moscow's problems, including issues that had previously not been spoken about publicly. Gorbachev described the speech as a "strong fresh wind" for the party. Yeltsin expressed a similar message at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986 and then in a speech at the House of Political Enlightenment in April.


1987: resignation

On 10 September 1987, after a lecture from hard-liner
Yegor Ligachyov Yegor Kuzmich Ligachyov (also transliterated as Ligachev; ; 29 November 1920 – 7 May 2021) was a Soviet and Russian politician who was a high-ranking official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and who continued an active po ...
at the Politburo for allowing two small unsanctioned demonstrations on Moscow streets, Yeltsin wrote a letter of resignation to Gorbachev who was holidaying on the Black Sea.Conor O'Clery, ''Moscow 25 December 1991: The Last Day of the Soviet Union''. pp. 71, 74, 81. Transworld Ireland (2011); . When Gorbachev received the letter he was stunned – nobody in Soviet history had voluntarily resigned from the ranks of the Politburo. Gorbachev phoned Yeltsin and asked him to reconsider. On 27 October 1987 at the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the
CPSU The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist Party (RCP), All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party, and sometimes referred to as the Soviet ...
, Yeltsin, frustrated that Gorbachev had not addressed any of the issues outlined in his resignation letter, asked to speak. He expressed his discontent with the slow pace of reform in society, the servility shown to the general secretary, and opposition to him from Ligachyov making his position untenable. He then requested that he be allowed to resign from the Politburo, adding that the City Committee would decide whether he should resign from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party. Aside from the fact that no one had ever quit the Politburo before, no one in the party had addressed a leader of the party in such a manner in front of the Central Committee since
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
in the 1920s. In his reply, Gorbachev accused Yeltsin of "political immaturity" and "absolute irresponsibility". Nobody in the Central Committee backed Yeltsin. Within days, news of Yeltsin's actions leaked and rumors of his "secret speech" at the Central Committee spread throughout Moscow. Soon, fabricated ''
samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...
'' versions began to circulate – this was the beginning of Yeltsin's rise as a rebel and growth in popularity as an anti-establishment figure. Gorbachev called a meeting of the Moscow City Party Committee for 11 November 1987 to launch another crushing attack on Yeltsin and confirm his dismissal. On 9 November 1987, Yeltsin apparently tried to kill himself and was rushed to the hospital bleeding profusely from self-inflicted cuts to his chest. Gorbachev ordered the injured Yeltsin from his hospital bed to the Moscow party plenum two days later where he was ritually denounced by the party faithful in what was reminiscent of a Stalinist show trial before he was fired from the post of First Secretary of the Moscow Communist Party. Yeltsin said he would never forgive Gorbachev for this "immoral and inhuman" treatment. Yeltsin was demoted to the position of First Deputy Commissioner for the
State Committee for Construction The Gosstroy () or State Committee for Construction in the Soviet Union (Gosstroy) was the government body for the implementation of national planning, monitoring and management in the construction sector of the USSR. It handled numerous cons ...
. At the next meeting of the Central Committee on 24 February 1988, Yeltsin was removed from his position as a Candidate member of the Politburo. He was perturbed and humiliated but began plotting his revenge.''The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire'', p. 86; His opportunity came with Gorbachev's establishment of the Congress of People's Deputies.''The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire'', p. 90; Yeltsin recovered and started intensively criticizing Gorbachev, highlighting the slow pace of reform in the Soviet Union as his major argument. Yeltsin's criticism of the Politburo and Gorbachev led to a smear campaign against him, in which examples of Yeltsin's awkward behavior were used against him. Speaking at the CPSU conference in 1988, Yegor Ligachyov stated, " Boris, you are wrong". An article in ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
'' described Yeltsin as drunk at a lecture during his visit to the United States in September 1989, an allegation which appeared to be confirmed by a TV account of his speech; however, popular dissatisfaction with the regime was strong, and these attempts to smear Yeltsin only added to his popularity. In another incident, Yeltsin fell from a bridge. Commenting on this event, Yeltsin hinted that he was helped to fall by the enemies of
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
, but his opponents suggested that he was simply drunk. Between 1988 and 1991, Yeltsin established himself as the hero of the
anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...
opposition in the Soviet Union. On 26 March 1989, Yeltsin was elected to the
Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union The Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union () was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991. Background The Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union was created as part of Mikhail Gorbachev ...
as the delegate from Moscow district with a decisive 92% of the vote, and on 29 May 1989, he was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies to a seat on the
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest body of state authority of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the So ...
. On 19 July 1989, Yeltsin announced the formation of the radical pro-reform faction in the Congress of People's Deputies, the Inter-Regional Group of Deputies, and on 29 July 1989 was elected one of the five co-chairmen of the Inter-Regional Group. Following these victories, Yeltsin had become a charismatic leader with legendary and almost mythical authority both at home and abroad and earned a reputation of an anti-communist revolutionary. On 16 September 1989, during a tour of the United States, Yeltsin toured a medium-sized grocery store (
Randalls Randalls Food & Drug L.P. is an American supermarket chain which operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the ''Randalls'' and ''Flagship Randalls'' banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston, Texas, Houston area and 15 sto ...
) in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
. Leon Aron, quoting a Yeltsin associate, wrote in his 2000 biography, ''Yeltsin, A Revolutionary Life'' (St. Martin's Press): "For a long time, on the plane to Miami, he sat motionless, his head in his hands. 'What have they done to our poor people?' he said after a long silence." He added, "On his return to Moscow, Yeltsin would confess the pain he had felt after the Houston excursion: the 'pain for all of us, for our country so rich, so talented and so exhausted by incessant experiments'." He wrote that Mr. Yeltsin added, "I think we have committed a crime against our people by making their standard of living so incomparably lower than that of the Americans." An aide, Lev Sukhanov, was reported to have said that it was at that moment that "the last vestige of Bolshevism collapsed" inside his boss. In his autobiography, ''Against the Grain: An Autobiography'', written and published in 1990, Yeltsin hinted in a small passage that after his tour, he made plans to open his line of grocery stores and planned to fill it with government-subsidized goods to alleviate the country's problems.


President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

On 4 March 1990, Yeltsin was elected to the
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR () and since 1992 Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation () was the supreme government institution in the Russian SFSR and in the Russian Federation from 16 May 1990 to 21 Se ...
representing Sverdlovsk with 72% of the vote. On 29 May 1990, he was elected chairman of the
Supreme Soviet The Supreme Soviet () was the common name for the legislative bodies (parliaments) of the Soviet socialist republics (SSR) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). These soviets were modeled after the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, establ ...
of the
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
(RSFSR), although Gorbachev personally pleaded with the Russian deputies not to select Yeltsin. A part of this power struggle was the opposition between the power structures of the Soviet Union and the RSFSR. In an attempt to gain more power, on 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted a declaration of sovereignty. On 12 July 1990, Yeltsin resigned from the CPSU in a dramatic speech before party members at the
28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, , a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an interval b ...
, some of whom responded by shouting "Shame!"


1991: presidential election

During May 1991 Vaclav Havel invited Yeltsin to
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
where the latter unambiguously condemned the Soviet intervention in 1968. On 12 June Yeltsin won 57% of the popular vote in the democratic presidential elections for the Russian republic, defeating Gorbachev's preferred candidate,
Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov (; ; 28 September 1929 – 28 February 2024) was a Russian politician. He served as the last Premier of the Soviet Union, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and was succeeded b ...
, who got just 16% of the vote, and four other candidates. In his election campaign, Yeltsin criticized the "dictatorship of the center", but did not suggest the introduction of a market economy. Instead, he said that he would put his head on the railtrack in the event of increased prices. Yeltsin took office on 10 July, and reappointed
Ivan Silayev Ivan Stepanovich Silayev (; 21 October 1930 – 8 February 2023) was a Soviet and Russian politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union through the offices of chairman of the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet ...
as
Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
of the
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
of the Russian SFSR. On 18 August 1991, a coup against Gorbachev was launched by the government members opposed to perestroika. Gorbachev was held in
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
while Yeltsin raced to the
White House of Russia The White House (, ), officially the House of the Government of the Russian Federation (), also known as the Russian White House and previously as the House of Soviets of Russia, is a government building in Moscow. It stands on the Krasnopresne ...
(residence of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR) in Moscow to defy the coup, making a memorable speech from atop the turret of a tank onto which he had climbed. The White House was surrounded by the military, but the troops defected in the face of mass popular demonstrations. By 21 August most of the coup leaders had fled Moscow and Gorbachev was "rescued" from Crimea and then returned to Moscow. Yeltsin was subsequently hailed by his supporters around the world for rallying mass opposition to the coup. Although restored to his position, Gorbachev had been destroyed politically. Neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands as support had swung over to Yeltsin. By September, Gorbachev could no longer influence events outside of Moscow. Taking advantage of the situation, Yeltsin began taking over what remained of the Soviet government, ministry by ministry—including the Kremlin. On 6 November 1991, Yeltsin issued a decree banning all Communist Party activities on Russian soil. In early December 1991,
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
voted for independence from the Soviet Union. A week later, on 8 December, Yeltsin met Ukrainian president
Leonid Kravchuk Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk (, ; 10 January 1934 – 10 May 2022) was a Ukrainian politician and the first president of Ukraine, serving from 5 December 1991 until 19 July 1994. In 1992, he signed the Lisbon Protocol, undertaking to give up Ukrai ...
and the leader of
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
,
Stanislav Shushkevich Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich (15 December 1934 – 3 May 2022) was a Belarusian politician and scientist who served as the first head of state of independent Belarus after it seceded from the Soviet Union, serving as the first chairman ...
, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. In the
Belavezha Accords The Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (officially), or unofficially the Minsk Agreement and best known as the Belovezha Accords, is the agreement declaring that the Soviet Union (USSR) had effectively ceased t ...
, the three presidents declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality", and announced the formation of a voluntary
Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...
(CIS) in its place. On 17 December, in a meeting with Yeltsin, Gorbachev accepted the ''
fait accompli Many words in the English vocabulary are of French language, French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman conquest of England, Norman ...
'' and agreed to dissolve the Soviet Union. On 24 December, by mutual agreement of the other CIS states (which by this time included all of the remaining republics except Georgia), the Russian Federation took the Soviet Union's seat in the United Nations. The next day, Gorbachev resigned and handed the functions of his office to Yeltsin. On 26 December, the Council of the Republics, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet, voted the Soviet Union out of existence, thereby ending the world's oldest, largest and most powerful Communist state. Economic relations between the former Soviet republics were severely compromised. Millions of ethnic Russians found themselves in newly formed foreign countries. Initially, Yeltsin promoted the retention of national borders according to the pre-existing Soviet state borders, although this left ethnic
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
as a majority in parts of northern
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, eastern Ukraine, and areas of
Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
and
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
.


President of the Russian Federation


1991–1996: first term


Radical reforms

Just days after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin resolved to embark on a programme of radical economic reform. Surpassing Gorbachev's reforms, which sought to expand democracy in the socialist system, the new regime aimed to completely dismantle socialism and fully implement capitalism, converting the world's largest command economy into a free-market one. During early discussions of this transition, Yeltsin's advisers debated issues of speed and sequencing, with an apparent division between those favoring a rapid approach and those favoring a gradual or slower approach. On 1 January 1992, Yeltsin signed accords with U.S. President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
, declaring the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
officially over after nearly 47 years. A visit to Moscow from Havel in April 1992 occasioned the written repudiation of the Soviet intervention and the withdrawal of armed forces from Czechoslovakia. Yeltsin laid a wreath during a November 1992 ceremony in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, apologized for the 1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary and handed over to president
Árpád Göncz Árpád Göncz (; 10 February 1922 – 6 October 2015) was a Hungarian writer, translator, lawyer and liberal politician who served as President of Hungary from 2 May 1990 to 4 August 2000. Göncz played a role in the Hungarian Revolution of 19 ...
documents from the Communist Party and
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
archives related to the intervention. A treaty of friendship was signed in May 1992 with
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
's
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, and then another one in August 1992 with
Zhelyu Zhelev Zhelyu Mitev Zhelev (; 3 March 1935 – 30 January 2015) was a Bulgarian politician and former dissident who served as the first democratically elected and non-Communist President of Bulgaria, from 1990 to 1997. Zhelev was one of the most prom ...
's
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. On 2 January 1992, Yeltsin, acting as his own
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, began a major economic and administrative reform ordered the liberalization of
foreign trade International trade is the exchange of Capital (economics), capital, goods, and Service (economics), services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countr ...
,
price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation expected, required, or given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, especially when the product is a service rather than a ph ...
s, and currency. At the same time, Yeltsin followed a policy of "macroeconomic stabilization", a harsh austerity regime designed to control inflation. Under Yeltsin's stabilization programme, interest rates were raised to extremely high levels to tighten
money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
and restrict
credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...
. To bring state spending and revenues into balance, Yeltsin raised new taxes heavily, cut back sharply on government subsidies to industry and construction, and made steep cuts to state welfare spending. In early 1992, prices skyrocketed throughout Russia, and a deep credit crunch shut down many industries and brought about a protracted depression. The reforms devastated the living standards of much of the population, especially the groups dependent on Soviet-era state subsidies and welfare programs. Through the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell by 50%, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, whilst incomes fell.
Hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...
, caused by the
Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (), commonly known as the Bank of Russia (), also called the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), is the central bank of the Russia, Russian Federation. The bank was established on 13 July 1990. It traces its ...
's loose monetary policy, wiped out many people's personal savings, and tens of millions of
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
were plunged into poverty. Some economists argue that in the 1990s, Russia suffered an economic downturn more severe than the United States or
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
had undergone six decades earlier in the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. Russian commentators and even some Western economists, such as
Marshall Goldman Marshall Irwin Goldman (July 26, 1930 – August 2, 2017) was an American economist and writer. He was an expert on the economy of the former Soviet Union. Goldman was a professor of economics at Wellesley College and associate director of the Har ...
, widely blamed Yeltsin's economic programme for the country's disastrous economic performance in the 1990s. Many politicians began to quickly distance themselves from the programme. In February 1992, Russia's vice president,
Alexander Rutskoy Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and former Soviet military officer who served as the only vice president of Russia from 1991 to 1993. He was proclaimed acting president following Boris Yeltsin' ...
denounced the Yeltsin programme as "economic genocide". By 1993, conflict over the reform direction escalated between Yeltsin on the one side, and the opposition to radical economic reform in Russia's parliament on the other. Reporter Fred Kaplan, who served as the Moscow Bureau chief of the
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
from 1992 to 1995, noted that when he arrived in Moscow and tried to find places where bottom-up democracy was being built, soon discovered that there weren't any: despite press freedoms, Yeltsin's government had remained top-down.


Confrontation with parliament

Throughout 1992 Yeltsin wrestled with the
Supreme Soviet of Russia The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, later the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR from 1938 to 1990; between 1990 and 1993, it was ...
and the Congress of People's Deputies for control over government, government policy, government banking, and property. In 1992, the speaker of the Russian Supreme Soviet,
Ruslan Khasbulatov Ruslan Imranovich Khasbulatov (, ; 22 November 1942 – 3 January 2023) was a Russian economist and politician and the former chairman of Parliament of Russia of Chechen descent who played a central role in the events leading to the 1993 co ...
, came out in opposition to the reforms, despite claiming to support Yeltsin's overall goals. In December 1992, the 7th Congress of People's Deputies succeeded in turning down the Yeltsin-backed candidacy of
Yegor Gaidar Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (; rus, Егор Тимурович Гайдар, p=jɪˈɡor tʲɪˈmurəvʲɪtɕ ɡɐjˈdar; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Min ...
for the position of
Russian Prime Minister The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...
. An agreement was brokered by
Valery Zorkin Valery Dmitrievich Zorkin (; born 18 February 1943) is a Russian legal scholar and jurist serving as the 4th and current President of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. He also served as the 1st President of the Constitution ...
, president of the Constitutional Court, which included the following provisions: a national referendum on the new constitution; parliament and Yeltsin would choose a new head of government, to be confirmed by the Supreme Soviet; and the parliament was to cease making
constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment (or constitutional alteration) is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly alt ...
s that change the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches. Eventually, on 14 December,
Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (13 February 1985 – 17 July 1989), after which he became first chairm ...
, widely seen as a compromise figure, was confirmed in the office. The conflict escalated soon, however, with the parliament changing its prior decision to hold a referendum. Yeltsin, in turn, announced in a televised address to the nation on 20 March 1993, that he was going to assume certain "special powers" to implement his programme of reforms. In response, the hastily called 9th
Congress of People's Deputies of Russia The Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR () and since 1992 Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation () was the supreme government institution in the Russian SFSR and in the Russian Federation from 16 May 1990 to 21 Se ...
attempted to remove Yeltsin from the presidency through
impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...
on 26 March 1993. Yeltsin's opponents gathered more than 600 votes for impeachment but fell 72 votes short of the required two-thirds majority. During the summer of 1993, a situation of
dual power Dual power, sometimes referred to as counterpower, refers to a strategy in which alternative institutions coexist with and seek to ultimately replace existing authority. The term was first used by the communist Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin ...
developed in Russia. From July, two separate administrations of the
Chelyabinsk Oblast Chelyabinsk Oblast; , is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia in the Ural Mountains region, on the border of Europe and Asia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chel ...
functioned side by side, after Yeltsin refused to accept the newly elected pro-parliament head of the region. The Supreme Soviet pursued its foreign policies, passing a declaration on the status of
Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
. In August, a commentator reflected on the situation as follows: "The President issues decrees as if there were no Supreme Soviet, and the Supreme Soviet suspends decrees as if there were no President." (
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...
, 13 August 1993). On 21 September 1993, in breach of the constitution, Yeltsin announced in a televised address his decision to disband the Supreme Soviet and Congress of People's Deputies by decree. In his address, Yeltsin declared his intent to rule by decree until the election of the new parliament and a referendum on a new constitution, triggering the constitutional crisis of October 1993. On the night after Yeltsin's televised address, the Supreme Soviet declared Yeltsin removed from the presidency for breaching the constitution, and Vice-president
Alexander Rutskoy Alexander Vladimirovich Rutskoy (; born 16 September 1947) is a Russian politician and former Soviet military officer who served as the only vice president of Russia from 1991 to 1993. He was proclaimed acting president following Boris Yeltsin' ...
was sworn in as acting president. Between 21 and 24 September, Yeltsin was confronted by popular unrest. Demonstrators protested the terrible living conditions under Yeltsin. Since 1989, GDP had declined by half. Corruption was rampant, violent crime was skyrocketing, medical services were collapsing, food and fuel were increasingly scarce and life expectancy was falling for all but a tiny handful of the population; moreover, Yeltsin was increasingly getting the blame. By early October, Yeltsin had secured the support of
Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...
and
Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...
. In a massive show of force, Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the
Russian White House The White House (, ), officially the House of the Government of the Russian Federation (), also known as the Russian White House and previously as the House of Soviets of Russia, is a government building in Moscow. It stands on the Krasnopresne ...
(parliament building). The attack killed 187 people and wounded almost 500 others. As the Supreme Soviet was dissolved, elections to the newly established parliament, the
State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
, were held in December 1993. Candidates associated with Yeltsin's economic policies were overwhelmed by a huge anti-Yeltsin vote, the bulk of which was divided between the Communist Party and ultra-nationalists. However, the referendum held at the same time approved the new constitution, which significantly expanded the powers of the president, giving Yeltsin the right to appoint the members of the government, to dismiss the prime minister and, in some cases, to dissolve the Duma. This led to the ''de facto'' establishment of a super-presidential system.


Relations with NATO

The US
Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...
seemed to confuse Yeltsin over
German re-unification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
and dismemberment of the
Helsinki Final Act The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...
and ensuing
Partnership for Peace The Partnership for Peace (PfP; ) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust and cooperation between the member states of NATO and other states mostly in Europe, including post-Soviet states; 18 states are ...
(PfP) push for NATO expansion. There is some question as to the involvement of his Minister of Foreign Affairs
Andrei Kozyrev Andrei Vladimirovich Kozyrev (; born 27 March 1951) is a Russian politician who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Boris Yeltsin, during the Russian SFSR from 1990 and during the Russian Federation from 1992, in office until 199 ...
, who in August 1993 was painted by
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
as a saboteur of Polish aspirations for NATO membership but was regarded by domestic opponents as suborned by the United States. In Yeltsin's letter to
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
dated 15 September 1993 he strongly favored "a pan-European security system" instead of
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
and warned: After his August visit to Warsaw, Yeltsin saw the explosion of fright over NATO in the old guard and thereafter the window of détente slammed shut. By December 1994, the month in which the
Budapest Memorandum The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances comprises four substantially identical political agreements signed at the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 December 1994, to provide security assu ...
was signed, Clinton began to understand that Russia had concluded he was "subordinating, if not abandoning, integration
f Russia F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounc ...
to NATO expansion". In July 1995, by which time the Russians had signed up to PfP, Yeltsin said to Clinton, "we must stick to our position, which is that there should be no rapid expansion of NATO.. it's important that the
OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...
be the principal mechanism for developing a new security order in Europe. NATO is a factor, too, of course, but NATO should evolve into a political onlyorganization."


Chechnya

In December 1994, Yeltsin ordered the military invasion of
Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...
in an attempt to restore Moscow's control over the republic. Nearly two years later, Yeltsin withdrew federal forces from the devastated Chechnya under a 1996 peace agreement brokered by
Alexander Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Airborne Forces before running for president in the 1996 Russian preside ...
, Yeltsin's then-security chief. The peace deal allowed Chechnya greater autonomy but not full independence. The decision to launch the war in Chechnya dismayed many in the West. ''Time'' magazine wrote:
Then, what was to be made of Boris Yeltsin? He could no longer be regarded as the democratic hero of Western myth. But had he become an old-style communist boss, turning his back on the democratic reformers he once championed and throwing in his lot with militarists and ultranationalists? Or was he a befuddled, out-of-touch chief being manipulated, knowingly or unwittingly, by—well, by whom exactly? If there were to be a dictatorial coup, would Yeltsin be its victim or its leader?


Norwegian rocket incident

In 1995, a Black Brant sounding rocket launched from the
Andøya Space Center , , or is the northernmost island in the Vesterålen archipelago, situated about inside the Arctic Circle. Andøya is located in Andøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The main population centres on the island include the villages of ...
caused a high alert in Russia, known as the
Norwegian rocket incident The Norwegian rocket incident, also known as the Black Brant scare, occurred on January 25, 1995, when a team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range off the nor ...
. The Russians were alerted that it might be a
nuclear missile Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. All nine nuclear states have developed some form of medium- to long-range delivery system for their nuc ...
launched from an American
submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...
. The incident occurred in the post-Cold War era, where many Russians were still very suspicious of the United States and
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
. A full alert was passed up through the military chain of command to Yeltsin, who was notified and the "
nuclear briefcase A nuclear briefcase is a specially outfitted briefcase used to authorize the use of nuclear weapons and is usually kept near the leader of a nuclear weapons state at all times. France In France, the nuclear briefcase does not officially exist. ...
" (known in Russia as '' Cheget'') used to authorize nuclear launch was automatically activated. Russian satellites indicated that no massive attack was underway and he agreed with advisors that it was a false alarm.


Privatization and the rise of "the oligarchs"

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin promoted
privatization Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
as a way of spreading ownership of shares in former state enterprises as widely as possible to create political support for his economic reforms. In the West, privatization was viewed as the key to the transition from Communism in Eastern Europe, ensuring a quick dismantling of the Soviet-era command economy to make way for "free market reforms". In the early 1990s,
Anatoly Chubais Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian- Israeli politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration in the early 1990s. During this period, ...
, Yeltsin's deputy for economic policy, emerged as a leading advocate of
privatization in Russia Privatization in Russia describes the series of post-Soviet reforms that resulted in large-scale privatization of Russia's state-owned assets, particularly in the industrial, energy, and financial sectors. Most privatization took place in the e ...
. In late 1992, Yeltsin launched a programme of free vouchers as a way to give mass privatization a jump-start. Under the programme, all Russian citizens were issued vouchers, each with a nominal value of around 10,000 rubles, for the purchase of shares of select state enterprises. Although each citizen initially received a voucher of equal face value, within months the majority of them converged in the hands of intermediaries who were ready to buy them for cash right away. In 1995, as Yeltsin struggled to finance Russia's growing foreign debt and gain support from the Russian business elite for his bid in the 1996 presidential elections, the Russian president prepared for a new wave of privatization offering stock shares in some of Russia's most valuable state enterprises in exchange for bank loans. The programme was promoted as a way of simultaneously speeding up privatization and ensuring the government a cash infusion to cover its operating needs.' However, the deals were effectively giveaways of valuable state assets to a small group of tycoons in finance, industry, energy, telecommunications, and the media who came to be known as " oligarchs" in the mid-1990s. This was because ordinary people sold their vouchers for cash. The vouchers were bought by a small group of investors. By mid-1996, substantial ownership shares over major firms were acquired at very low prices by a handful of people. Boris Berezovsky, who controlled major stakes in several banks and the national media, emerged as one of Yeltsin's most prominent supporters. Along with Berezovsky,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (, ; born 26 June 1963), sometimes known by his initials MBK, is an exiled Russian businessman, Russian oligarchs, oligarch, and Russian opposition, opposition activist, now residing in London. In 2003, Khodork ...
,
Vladimir Potanin Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian oligarch. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s. As of May 7, 2025, Forbes ranked 81st richest in ...
,
Vladimir Bogdanov Vladimir Leonidovich Bogdanov (; born 28 May 1951) is a Russian businessman and oil business magnate, tycoon. Biography and career In 1973, he graduated from Industrial University of Tyumen, Tyumen Industrial Institute with a degree in oil an ...
, Rem Viakhirev, Vagit Alekperov, Alexander Smolensky,
Viktor Vekselberg Viktor Felixovich Vekselberg (born April 14, 1957) is a Russian-Israeli businessman and oligarch. He is the founder and chairman of Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate. According to ''Forbes'', as of November 2021, his fortune is estimated at ...
,
Mikhail Fridman Mikhail Maratovich Fridman (also transliterated Mikhail Friedman; ; ; born 21 April 1964) is a Ukrainian-born, Russian–Israeli tycoon and Russian oligarchs, oligarch. He is one of the co-founders of Alfa Group, Alfa-Group, a multinational Rus ...
and a few years later
Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (born 24 October 1966) is a business oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club in London, England, and is the primary owner of the private investment com ...
, were habitually mentioned in the media as Russia's oligarchs.


Korean Air Lines Flight 007

On 5 December 1991,
Senator Jesse Helms Jesse Alexander Helms Jr. (October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008) was an American politician. A leader in the conservative movement, he served as a senator from North Carolina from 1973 to 2003. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ...
, ranking member of the Minority on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, wrote to Yeltsin concerning U.S. servicemen who were POWs or MIAs: "The status of thousands and thousands of American servicemen who are held by Soviet and other Communist forces, and who were never repatriated after every major war this century, is of grave concern to the American people."Moscow Bound: Policy, Politics, and the POW/MIA Dilemma, John M. G. Brown, Veteran Press, Eureka Springs, California, US (1993), Chapter 14. Yeltsin responded with a statement made on 15 June 1992, whilst being interviewed on board his presidential jet en route to the United States, "Our archives have shown that it is true— some of them were transferred to the territory of the USSR and were kept in labour camps... We can only surmise that some of them may still be alive." On 10 December 1991, five days after Helms had written to Yeltsin regarding American servicemen, he again wrote to Yeltsin, this time concerning
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)In aviation, two types of Airline codes, airline designators are used. The flight number KAL 007, with the ICAO code for Korean Air Lines, was used by air traffic control. In ticketing, however, IAT ...
(KAL 007) requesting information concerning possible survivors, including Georgia Congressman
Larry McDonald Lawrence Patton McDonald (April 1, 1935 – September 1, 1983) was an American physician, politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 until ...
, and their whereabouts. In March 1992, Yeltsin handed over KAL 007's
black box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
without its tapes to South Korean President
Roh Tae-woo Roh Tae-woo (, ; 4 December 1932 – 26 October 2021) was a South Korean army general and politician who served as the sixth president of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1987, he became the first president to be directly elected under the cur ...
at the end of the plenary session of the South Korean National Assembly, saying "We apologize for the tragedy and are trying to settle some unsolved issues." Yeltsin released the tapes of the KAL 007's black box (its digital flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder) to the
International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...
(ICAO) on 8 January 1993. For years the Soviet authorities had denied possessing these tapes. The openness of Yeltsin about POW/MIA and KAL 007 matters may also have signaled his willingness for more openness to the West. In 1992, which he labeled the "window of opportunity", he was willing to discuss biological weapons with the United States and admitted that the Sverdlovsk anthrax leak of 2 April 1979 (which Yeltsin had originally been involved in concealing) had been caused as the result of a mishap at a military facility. The Russian government had maintained that the cause was contaminated meat. The true number of victims in the anthrax outbreak at Sverdlovsk, about east of Moscow, is unknown.


1996 presidential election

In February 1996, Yeltsin announced that he would seek a second term in the
1996 Russian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Russia on 16 June 1996, with a second round being held on 3 July 1996. It resulted in a victory for the incumbent Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who ran as an independent politician. Yeltsin defeated the Co ...
in the summer. This announcement came after weeks of speculation that Yeltsin's political career was nearing its end because of his health problems and growing unpopularity in Russia. At the time, Yeltsin was recuperating from a series of heart attacks, and both domestic and international observers had noted his occasionally erratic behavior. By the time campaigning began in early 1996, Yeltsin's popularity was close to being non-existent. Meanwhile, the opposition Communist Party had already gained significant ground in the parliamentary elections held on 17 December 1995. Its candidate,
Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as Member of the State Duma since 1993. He is also the Chair of the Union ...
, boasted a strong grassroots organization, especially in the rural areas and small towns, and effectively appealed to nostalgia for the Soviet Union's international prestige and the domestic order under state socialism. At the same time, during and after the elections, the Communist Party secured the stability of Yeltsin and his regime, who relied on anti-communist rhetoric and on the fear of a resurgence of a strong communist party. During the elections, Yeltsin positioned himself as the only credible anti-communist candidate, able to prevent a new revolution and civil war and lead Russia toward stability and peace. The pro-government and pro-Yeltsin forces launched an anti-communist propaganda campaign in the media and established a special anti-communist newspaper ' ("God forbid") promoting Yeltsin. Panic struck the Yeltsin team when opinion polls suggested that the ailing president could not win; some members of his entourage urged him to cancel the presidential elections and effectively rule as a dictator from then on.Россия Ельцина
// The Wall Street Journal, 24 апреля 2007
Instead, Yeltsin changed his campaign team, assigning a key role to his daughter,
Tatyana Dyachenko Tatyana Borisovna Yumasheva (; formerly Dyachenko (Дьяченко); (Ельцина); born 17 January 1960) is the younger daughter of former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and Naina Yeltsina. Since 2009, Yumasheva has been a citizen of Aus ...
, and appointing Chubais as campaign manager. Chubais, acting as both Yeltsin's campaign manager and adviser on Russia's privatization programme, used his control of the privatization programme as an instrument of Yeltsin's re-election campaign. In mid-1996, Chubais and Yeltsin recruited a team of a handful of financial and media oligarchs to bankroll the Yeltsin campaign and guarantee favorable media coverage to the president on national television and in leading newspapers. In return, Chubais allowed well-connected Russian business leaders to acquire majority stakes in some of Russia's most valuable state-owned assets. Led by the efforts of Mikhail Lesin, the media painted a picture of a fateful choice for Russia, between Yeltsin and a "return to totalitarianism". The oligarchs even played up the threat of civil war if a Communist was elected president. U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
also threw his support behind Yeltsin's campaign. At the White House's direction, American advisors were sent to join the campaign team of the sitting Russian president to teach new electoral techniques. Several European governments also showed their support for Yeltsin. French Prime Minister Alain Juppé visited Moscow on 14 February, the day Yeltsin's candidacy was announced, and said he hoped the election campaign would be "an opportunity to highlight the achievements of President Yeltsin's reform policy". On the same day, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl visited Moscow, describing Yeltsin as "an absolutely reliable partner who has always respected his commitments". Yeltsin campaigned energetically, dispelling concerns about his health and maintaining a high media profile. To boost his popularity, Yeltsin promised to abandon some of his more unpopular economic reforms, boost welfare spending, end the war in Chechnya, and pay wage and pension arrears. Yeltsin had benefited from the approval of a US$10.2 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Russia, which helped to keep his government afloat. Zyuganov, who lacked Yeltsin's resources and financial backing, saw his early lead gradually erode. After the first round of voting on 16 June, Yeltsin appointed
Alexander Lebed Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Lebed (; 20 April 1950 – 28 April 2002) was a Soviet and Russian military officer and politician who held senior positions in the Airborne Forces before running for president in the 1996 Russian preside ...
, a popular candidate who had finished in third place in the first round, as secretary of the Security Council of Russia. At Lebed's behest, Yeltsin fired defense minister Pavel Grachev and, on 20 June, sacked a number of his ''siloviki'', one of them being his chief of presidential security Alexander Korzhakov, viewed by many as Yeltsin's éminence grise. In the run-off on 3 July, with a turnout of 68.9%, Yeltsin won 53.8% of the vote and Zyuganov 40.7%, with the rest (5.9%) voting "blank vote, against all".


1996–1999: Second term

Yeltsin underwent emergency Coronary artery bypass surgery#Number of arteries bypassed, quintuple heart bypass surgery in November 1996, and remained in the hospital for months. During his presidency, Russia received US$40 billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund and other international lending organizations. However, his opponents allege that most of these funds were stolen by people from Yeltsin's circle and placed into foreign banks. In 1998, a political and economic crisis emerged when Sergey Kiriyenko's Cabinet, Kiriyenko's government defaulted on its debts, causing financial markets to panic and the
ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...
to collapse in the 1998 Russian financial crisis. During the Kosovo War, 1999 Kosovo War, Yeltsin strongly opposed the
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
military campaign against Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia, and warned of possible Russian intervention if NATO deployed ground troops to Kosovo. In televised comments, he stated: "I told NATO, the Americans, the Germans: Don't push us towards military action. Otherwise, there will be a European war for sure and possibly a world war." Yeltsin said that NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia "trampled upon the foundations of international law and the United Nations charter". On 9 August 1999, Yeltsin fired his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time, fired his entire Cabinet. In Stepashin's place, he appointed
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
, relatively unknown at that time, and announced his wish to see Putin as his successor. In late 1999, Yeltsin and U.S. President Bill Clinton openly disagreed on the war in Chechnya. At the November meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Clinton pointed his finger at Yeltsin and demanded he halt bombing attacks that had resulted in many civilian casualties. Yeltsin immediately left the conference. In December, whilst visiting China to seek support on Chechnya, Yeltsin replied to Clinton's criticism of a Russian ultimatum to citizens of Grozny. He bluntly pronounced: "Yesterday, Clinton permitted himself to put pressure on Russia. It seems he has for a minute, for a second, for half a minute, forgotten that Russia has a full arsenal of nuclear weapons. He has forgotten about that." Clinton dismissed Yeltsin's comments stating: "I didn't think he'd forgotten that America was a great power when he disagreed with what I did in Kosovo." It fell to Putin to downplay Yeltsin's comments and present reassurances about U.S. and Russian relations.


Attempted 1999 impeachment

On 15 May 1999, Yeltsin survived another impeachment attempt, this time by the democratic and Communist Party of the Russian Federation, communist opposition in the
State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
. He was charged with several unconstitutional activities, including the signing of the Belovezha Accords dissolving the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in December 1991, the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, coup-d'état in October 1993, and initiating the First Chechen War, war in
Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...
in 1994. None of these charges received the two-thirds majority of the Duma required to initiate the process of
impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...
.


Mabetex corruption

With Pavel Borodin as the Kremlin property manager, Swiss construction firm Mabetex was awarded many important Russian government contracts. They were awarded the contracts to reconstruct, renovate and refurbish the former White House, Moscow, Russian Federation Parliament, the Russian Opera House,
State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...
and the Moscow Kremlin. In 1998, the prosecutor general of Russia, Yuri Skuratov, opened a bribery investigation against Mabetex, accusing its chief executive officer Behgjet Pacolli of bribing Yeltsin and his family. Swiss authorities issued an international arrest warrant for Pavel Borodin, the official who managed the Kremlin's property empire. Stating that bribery was a common business practice in Russia, Pacolli confirmed in early December 1999 that he had guaranteed five credit cards for Yeltsin's wife, Naina, and two daughters, Tatyana and Yelena. Yeltsin resigned a few weeks later on 31 December 1999, appointing Vladimir Putin as his successor. Putin's first decree as president was lifelong immunity from prosecution for Yeltsin.


Resignation

On 31 December 1999, during a televised New Year Address by the President of Russia, New Year address, Yeltsin issued his resignation on the state-owned Channel One (Russia), ORT channel. In the speech, he praised the advances in cultural, political, and economic freedom that his administration had overseen although apologized to Russia's people for "not making many of your and my dreams come true. What seemed simple to do proved to be excruciatingly difficult." Yeltsin additionally announced that Vladimir Putin, by-then the most popular politician in the country, would be serving as acting president for the remaining three months until the 2000 Russian presidential election, next presidential election on 26 March 2000. Yeltsin's approval ratings had been estimated to have been at their lowest by the time he left office, having plummeted to as low as 2–4%. Polling also suggests that a majority of the Russian population were pleased by Yeltsin's resignation.


Electoral history


Heart disease and alcoholism

Yeltsin suffered from heart disease during his first term as President of Russia, probably continuing for the rest of his life. He is known to have suffered heart problems in March 1990, just after being elected as a member of parliament. It was common knowledge that, in early 1996, he was recuperating from a series of Heart attack, heart attacks and, soon after, he spent months in hospital recovering from a quintuple bypass operation (see above). According to numerous reports, Yeltsin was alcohol dependent until 1996, when his worsening health made him give up heavy drinking. The topic made headlines abroad during Yeltsin's visit to the U.S. in 1989 for a series of lectures on social and political life in the Soviet Union. A report in the Italian newspaper ''La Repubblica'', reprinted by ''
Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...
'', reported that Yeltsin often appeared drunk in public. His alcoholism was also the subject of media discussion following his meeting with United States Deputy Secretary of State, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott following Clinton's inauguration in 1993 and Boris Yeltsin circling over Shannon diplomatic incident, an incident during a flight stop-over at Shannon Airport, Ireland, in September 1994, when the waiting Irish prime minister, Albert Reynolds, was told that Yeltsin was unwell and would not be leaving the aircraft. Reynolds tried to make excuses for him in an effort to offset his own humiliation in waiting in vain outside the plane to meet him. Speaking to the media in March 2010, Yeltsin's daughter, Tatyana Yumasheva, claimed that her father had suffered a heart attack on the flight from the United States to Moscow and was therefore not in a position to leave the plane. According to former deputy prime minister of Russia Boris Nemtsov, the bizarre behavior of Yeltsin resulted from "strong drugs" given to him by Kremlin doctors, which were incompatible even with a small amount of alcohol. This was discussed by journalist Yelena Tregubova from the Kremlin pool in connection with an episode during Yeltsin's visit to Stockholm in 1997, when Yeltsin suddenly started talking nonsense (he allegedly told his bemused audience that Swedish meatballs reminded him of Björn Borg's face), lost his balance, and almost fell down on the podium after drinking a single glass of champagne.Yelena Tregubova ''Tales of a Kremlin Digger'' (, 2003;
Full text in Russian
.
In his memoirs, Yeltsin claimed no recollection of the event but did make a passing reference to the incident when he met Borg a year later at the World Circle Kabaddi Cup in Hamilton, Ontario, where the pair had been invited to present the trophy. He made a hasty withdrawal from the funeral of King Hussein of Jordan in February 1999 to use the facilities. After Yeltsin's death, Michiel Staal, a Dutch neurosurgeon, said that his team had been secretly flown to Moscow to operate on Yeltsin in 1999. Yeltsin suffered from an unspecified neurological disorder that affected his sense of balance, causing him to wobble as if in a drunken state; the goal of the operation was to reduce the pain. Former U.S. President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
claimed that on a 1995 visit to Washington, Yeltsin was found on Pennsylvania Avenue, drunk, in his underwear and trying to hail a taxi cab to find pizza. Yeltsin's personal and health problems received a great deal of attention in the global press. As the years went on, he was often viewed as an increasingly drunk and unstable leader, rather than the inspiring figure he was once seen as. The possibility that he might die in office was often discussed. Starting in the last years of his presidential term, Yeltsin's primary residence was the ''Gorki-9'' presidential dacha west of Moscow. He made frequent stays at the nearby government sanatorium in Barvikha. In October 1999, Yeltsin was hospitalized with the flu and a fever, and in the following month, he was hospitalized with pneumonia, just days after receiving treatment for bronchitis.


Life after resignation

Yeltsin maintained a low profile after his resignation, making almost no public statements or appearances. He criticized his successor Putin in December 2000 for supporting the reintroduction of the tune of the National anthem of Russia, Soviet-era national anthem, albeit with different lyrics. In January 2001, he was hospitalized for six weeks with pneumonia resulting from a viral infection. On 13 September 2004, following the Beslan school siege, Beslan school hostage crisis and nearly concurrent terrorist attacks in Moscow, Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directly appointed by the president and approved by regional legislatures. Yeltsin, together with Mikhail Gorbachev, publicly criticized Putin's plan as a step away from democracy in Russia and a return to the centrally-run political apparatus of the Soviet era. In September 2005, Yeltsin underwent a hip operation in Moscow after breaking his femur in a fall while on holiday in the Italian island of Sardinia. On 1 February 2006, Yeltsin celebrated his 75th birthday.


Death and funeral

Yeltsin died of heart failure, congestive heart failure on 23 April 2007, aged 76. According to experts quoted by ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'', the onset of Yeltsin's condition began during his visit to Jordan between 25 March and 2 April. He is buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery on 25 April 2007, following a period during which his body had lying in repose, lain in repose in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Yeltsin was the first Russian head of state in 113 years to be buried in a church ceremony, after Emperor Alexander III of Russia, Alexander III. He was survived by his wife, Naina Yeltsina, Naina Iosifovna Yeltsina, whom he married in 1956, and their two daughters Yelena and
Tatyana Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe. Origin Tatiana is a feminine, diminutive derivative of the Sabine—and later Latin� ...
, born in 1957 and 1960, respectively. President Putin declared the day of his funeral a national day of mourning, with the nation's flags flown at Half-mast, half-staff and all entertainment programs suspended for the day. Putin said, upon declaring 25 April 2007 a National day of mourning, day of national mourning, that: Shortly after the news broke, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued a statement, saying:


Ideology

During the late Soviet period, Yeltsin's ideological worldview began to shift. Colton argued that populism and "a non-ethnic Russianism" had begun to enter Yeltsin's thinking while he was First Secretary of Sverdlovsk. In the late 1980s, Yeltsin told the Athens daily newspaper ''Kathimerini'' that "I regard myself as a social democrat", despite his economic privatisation programs, adding: "Those who still believe in communism are moving in the sphere of fantasy." Linking Yeltsin with "liberal Russian nationalism", Alfred B. Evans described Yeltsin as having "exerted a crucial influence on the development of Russian nationalism". Yeltsin helped to channel the aspirations of Russian nationalism in ways that did not lead to clashes with the nationalisms of other national groups within the Soviet Union. As head of the Russian SFSR, he stressed the specific interests of the Russian republic within the broader Soviet Union. Evans compared Yeltsin's turn away from the "empire-building" of the Soviet Union to the ideas of the writer and dissident
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...
, who had called in the 1980s for Russia to extricate itself from the Soviet Union. However, Evans thought that Yeltsin still appeared to believe by 1990 that the Ukrainians and Belarusians, as fellow East Slavic nationalities, would want to remain politically united with Russia in federal form. By 1991, it was obvious that this would not occur as the Ukrainian population favored full independence. Over the course of his presidency, he made increasing concessions to right-wing ethnic Russian nationalism by expressing growing concern over the fate of ethnic Russians in neighboring countries.


Personal life

Colton described Yeltsin as a man who "teemed with inner complexities", who exhibited both a "mathematical cast of mind" and a "taste for adventure", noting that Yeltsin had "the intuition for grasping a situation holistically". Colton thought Yeltsin could be bullheaded, and restless. Evans noted that in Yeltsin's autobiography, the leader appeared to view himself as more of a Soviet person than a Russian. Throughout his life, Yeltsin sustained a number of health problems which he would usually try to conceal. As a child, he sustained both a broken nose and a maimed hand, physical attributes he remained self-conscious about; in public he would often conceal his left hand under the table or behind his tie. He was also deaf on the right side due to a middle-ear infection. Although his mother was a devout Orthodox Christian, Yeltsin did not grow up as a practitioner, only becoming so in the 1980s and 1990s. Yeltsin stated that his "style of management" was "tough" and that he "demanded strict discipline and fulfilment of promises". Yeltsin was a workaholic; at UPI university, he developed the habit of sleeping for only four hours at night. He was punctual and very strict regarding the tardiness of his subordinates. He had an excellent memory, and enjoyed reading; by 1985 his family had around 6000 volumes in their possession. At UPI university, he was known for enjoying practical jokes. He enjoyed listening to folk songs and pop tunes, and from youth could play the ''Spoon (musical instrument), lozhki'' spoons. Until poor health stopped him in the 1990s, Yeltsin enjoyed swimming in icy water, and throughout his life started each day with a cold shower. He also loved using the ''Banya (sauna), banya'' steambath. Yeltsin also enjoyed hunting and had his own collection of hunting guns. He liked to give watches and other keepsakes to his employees, often as a means of motivating them to work harder. He disliked people swearing, and when frustrated or angry, he was known to often snap pencils in his hand. Yeltsin had a high tolerance for alcohol, and by the 1980s he was drinking alcohol at or above the average for the party elite. Yeltsin's favorite writer was Anton Chekhov, although he also enjoyed the work of Sergei Yesenin and Alexander Pushkin. Colton described Yeltsin as having a "husky baritone" voice. Doder and Branson noted that Yeltsin was "a hero for young Russians, a cult figure to those who were not necessarily anticommunists but who were filled with bitterness and apathy" from the Brezhnev years. They noted he was "ebullient, almost outrageously open", and also "charismatic". They added that Yeltsin presented himself as "a true working-class hero" when challenging the Soviet administration. Yeltsin had nevertheless always wanted a son. Yelena briefly married a school friend, Aleksei Fefelov, against her parents' wishes. They had a daughter, Yekaterina, in 1979, before separating. Yelena then married an Aeroflot pilot, Valerii Okulov, with whom she had a second daughter, Mariya, in 1983. Yeltsin's other daughter, Tatyana, married fellow student Vilen Khairullin, an ethnic Tatar, while studying at Moscow State University in 1980. In 1981 they had a son, named Boris after his grandfather, but soon separated. Tatyana then married again, to Leonid Dyachenko, and for a while they lived with Yeltsin at his Moscow apartment during the mid-1980s. Yeltsin was loyal to his friends. As friends, Yeltsin selected individuals he deemed to be professionally competent and morally fastidious. Aron noted that Yeltsin could be "an inexhaustible fount of merriment, exuberance and hospitality" among his friends.


Reception and legacy

Evaluations of Yeltsin are highly polarized. Former United States Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul emphasizes the range pro and con: :Yeltsin certainly deserves credit for monumental achievements. On his watch, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was destroyed, the largest empire on earth was peacefully dismantled, and electoral democracy was introduced into a country with a thousand-year history of autocratic rule....Yeltsin invites and eludes a ringing assessment. Was he a heroic revolutionary, or an erratic reformer? An astute politician and a committed democrat, or a populist improviser with little interest in the hard work of coalition building? Was he a daring economic reformer, or a blundering tool of the oligarchs? ...Does he emerge as a larger-than-life leader who rose to unprecedented challenges, or as a figure overwhelmed by the enormity of change? The answer, not surprisingly, is that Yeltsin was all of the above. Colton suggested that "Yeltsin leaves nobody indifferent. He needs to be understood if we are to understand the age we inhabit". Aron characterised him as "Russia's first modern leader". Colton understood him as "a hero in history", albeit one who was "enigmatic and flawed". He expressed the view that Yeltsin was part of "the global trend away from authoritarianism and statism" that occurred in the 1990s, comparing him to Nelson Mandela,
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
, Václav Havel and
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
. Observers have described Russia's government under Yeltsin as a Hybrid regime, hybrid or Illiberal democracy, illiberal democratic regime, citing his frequent abuses of presidential power which led to hyper-presidentialism in Russia. In the years following his presidency, there was comparatively little interest among biographers and historians in researching Yeltsin's life. During his career as a figure in the Soviet Union, Yeltsin received ten medals and awards for his service to the state. In April 2008, a new memorial to Yeltsin was dedicated in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery, to mixed reactions. At the memorial service, a military chorus performed Patrioticheskaya Pesnya, Russia's national anthem – an anthem that was changed shortly after the end of Yeltsin's term, to National anthem of Russia, follow the music of the State Anthem of the Soviet Union, old Soviet anthem, with lyrics reflecting Russia's new status. Ryabov, who was formerly a close ally of Yeltsin's, claimed that his actions in the 1990s revealed that he was a turncoat. In 2013, a memorial sculpture in relief, dedicated to Yeltsin, was erected on Nunne street, at the base of the Patkuli stairs in Tallinn, for his contribution to the peaceful independence of Estonia during 1990–1991. In 2015, the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center was opened in Yekaterinburg.


Public opinion in Russia

Yeltsin's legacy has remained a controversial topic in Russia.Johanna Granville
"''Dermokratizatsiya'' and ''Prikhvatizatsiya'': The Russian Kleptocracy and Rise of Organized Crime,"
'Demokratizatsiya'' (summer 2003), pp. 448–457.
A Russian Public Opinion Research Center, VCIOM survey carried out in 2001, over a year after Yeltsin's resignation, showed the public's mostly negative perception of the former president at the time: Another VCIOM survey, carried out in 2010, showed the continuing unpopularity of Yeltsin three years after his death:


Honors and awards

Russian and Soviet * Russia: Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class (12 June 2001) – a particularly outstanding contribution to the establishment and development of the Russian state * Soviet Union:
Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...
(30 January 1981) – for services to the Communist Party and Soviet state and his fiftieth birthday * Soviet Union: Order of the Red Banner of Labour, twice; ** August 1971 – for services in carrying out a five-year plan ** January 1974 – for achievements in the construction of the first stage of cold rolling shop at the Verkh-Isetsky Metallurgical Plant in Sverdlovsk * Soviet Union: Order of the Badge of Honour (1966) – for achievements in implementing the seven-year plan targets for construction * Russia: Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan" (2006) * Soviet Union: Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (November 1969) * Soviet Union: Jubilee Medal "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" (April 1975) * Soviet Union: Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" (January 1978) * Soviet Union: Gold Medal, Exhibition of Economic Achievements (October 1981) * Russia: Medal – "In memory of the army as a volunteer" (March 2012, posthumous) – for a high contribution to the remembrance of the Great Patriotic War, with respect for the history of the Russian state, and for his contribution to the preservation of names of victims in conflicts in defence of the homeland Foreign awards * Belarus: Order of Francysk Skaryna (31 December 1999) – for his great personal contribution to the development and strengthening of Belarusian-Russian cooperation * Kazakhstan: Order of the Golden Eagle (1997) * Ukraine: Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class (22 January 2000) – for his significant personal contribution to the development of Ukrainian-Russian cooperation * Italy: Knight Grand Cross with collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1991) * Latvia: Order of the Three Stars, 1st class (2006) * Palestine: Order "Bethlehem 2000" (2000) * France: Knight Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France) * South Africa: Order of Good Hope, 1st class (1999) * Lithuania: Medal of 13 January (9 January 1992) * Lithuania: Grand Cross of the Order of the Cross of Vytis (10 June 2011, posthumous) * Mongolia: Order "For Personal Courage" (18 October 2001) Departmental awards * Russia: Gorchakov Commemorative Medal (Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian Foreign Ministry, 1998) * International Olympic Committee: Golden Olympic Order (International Olympic Committee, 1993) Religious awards * Russia: Order of Saint Blessed Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy, 1st class (Russian Orthodox Church, 2006) * Greece: Chevalier of the Order of the Chain of the Holy Sepulchre (Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, 2000) Titles * Honorary Citizen of ** Russia:
Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblastʹ, p=svʲɪrdˈlofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the c ...
(2010, posthumous) ** Russia:
Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
(2005) ** Russia: Samara Oblast (2006) ** Armenia: Yerevan (2002) ** Turkmenistan: Turkmenistan (1993) ** Greece: Corfu (1994)


See also

* History of Russia (1991–present)#"Shock therapy" * History of the Soviet Union * Shock Doctrine * Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin * Spinning Boris, film based upon the story of American consultants advising the campaign


Notes


References


Sources and further reading

* * Aslund, Anders. ''Russia's capitalist revolution: why market reform succeeded and democracy failed'' (2007
excerpt
* Barnes, A. "Property, Power, and the Presidency: Ownership Policy Reform and Russian Executive–Legislative Relations, 1990–1999" ''Communist and Post-Communist Politics'' 34#1 (2001): 39–61. * Barylski, Robert V. ''The Soldier in Russian Politics: Duty, Dictatorship, and Democracy under Gorbachev and Yeltsin'' (Routledge, 2018). * Bialer, Seweryn. "The Yeltsin Affair: The Dilemma of the Left in Gorbachev's Revolution." ''Politics, Society, and Nationality Inside Gorbachev's Russia'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 91–119. * Biryukov, N., & S. Sergeyev. ''Russian Politics in Transition: Institutional Conflict in a Nascent Democracy'' (Ashgate, 1997). * Boltunova, Ekaterina. "The President has entered the building! The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center and memorial tradition in contemporary Russia." ''Ab Imperio'' 2017.3 (2017): 165–193
online
* Breslauer, George W. ''Gorbachev and Yeltsin as leaders'' (Cambridge UP, 2002). * Breslauer, George W. "Personalism versus proceduralism: Boris Yeltsin and the institutional fragility of the Russian system." ''Russia in the New Century'' (Routledge, 2018) pp. 35–58. * Brown, Archie et al. ''Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin: political leadership in Russia's transition'' (2002
online
* Brown, Archie, and Lilia Shevtsova, eds. ''Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin: political leadership in Russia's transition'' (Carnegie Endowment, 2013
excerpt
* * Colton, Timothy J. "Boris Yeltsin, Russia's all-thumbs democrat." ''Patterns in post-Soviet leadership'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 49–74. * Depoy, Erik. "Boris Yeltsin and the 1996 Russian presidential election." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 26.4 (1996): 1140–1164
online
* * Ellison, Herbert J. ''Boris Yeltsin and Russia's democratic transformation'' (2006
online
* * Forden, Geoffrey. "Reducing a Common Danger." ''Policy Analysis Paper'' (CATO #399, 2001
online
* Gill, Graeme. "The Yeltsin Era." in ''Routledge Handbook of Russian Politics and Society'' (Routledge, 2015) pp 3–12. * Goldgeier, James. "Bill and Boris: A Window Into a Most Important Post-Cold War Relationship (August 2018)." ''Texas National Security Review'' (2018)
online
* Jackson, Camille. "Legislation as an Indicator of Free Press in Russia: Patterns of Change from Yeltsin to Putin." ''Problems of Post-communism'' 63.5–6 (2016): 354–366
online
* Kagarlitsky, Boris. ''Russia Under Yeltsin and Putin: Neo-Liberal Autocracy'' (2002) * Kimura, Hiroshi. ''Japanese-Russian Relations Under Gorbachev and Yeltsin'' (Routledge, 2016). * Lane, David. "Political elites under Gorbachev and Yeltsin in the early period of transition: a reputational and analytical study." in ''Patterns in Post-Soviet Leadership'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 29–47. * Lynch, Allen C. "The influence of regime type on Russian foreign policy toward “the West,” 1992–2015." ''Communist and Post-Communist Studies'' 49.1 (2016): 101–111
online
* Malinova, Olga. "Political Uses of the Great Patriotic War in Post-Soviet Russia from Yeltsin to Putin." in ''War and Memory in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus'' (Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2017) pp. 43–70. * Marples, David R. ''The collapse of the Soviet Union, 1985–1991'' (Routledge, 2016). * Mason, David S., and Svetlana Sidorenko-Stephenson. "Public opinion and the 1996 elections in Russia: Nostalgic and statist, yet pro-market and pro-Yeltsin." ''Slavic Review'' 56.4 (1997): 698–71
online
* Medvedev, Toy. ''Post-Soviet Russia: a journey through the Yeltsin era'' (Columbia UP, 2000) * Minaev, Boris. ''Boris Yeltsin: The Decade that Shook the World'' (2015), detailed popular biography based on numerous interview
excerpt
* O'Brien, Thomas A
"The role of the transitional leader: A comparative analysis of Adolfo Suárez and Boris Yeltsin."
''Leadership'' 3.4 (2007): 419–432; compares Suárez of Spain. * Ostrovsky, Alexander
Глупость или измена? Расследование гибели СССР. (Stupidity or treason? Investigation of the death of the USSR.)
М.: Форум, Крымский мост-9Д, 2011. – 864 с. . * Ostrovsky, Alexander
Расстрел «Белого дома». Чёрный октябрь 1993. (The shooting of the "White House". Black October 1993.)
– М.: «Книжный мир», 2014. – 640 с. * Rivera, David W., and Sharon Werning Rivera. "Yeltsin, Putin, and Clinton: presidential leadership and Russian democratization in comparative perspective." ''Perspectives on Politics'' (2009): 591–61
online
* Satter, David. ''The Less you know, the better you sleep. Russia's road to terror and dictatorship under Yeltsin and Putin'' (Yale University Press, 2016). * Shevtsova, Lilia. ''Russia lost in transition: the Yeltsin and Putin legacies'' (2007
online
* Shevtsova, Lilia. ''Yeltsin's Russia: Myths and Reality''. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1999
excerpt
* Skinner, Kiron, et al. ''The Strategy of Campaigning: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Boris Yeltsin'' (U of Michigan Press, 2010). * Smith, Kathleen E. ''Mythmaking in the new Russia: politics and memory during the Yeltsin era'' (2002
online
* Spohr, Kristina, and Kaarel Piirimäe. "With or without Russia? The Boris, Bill and Helmut Bromance and the harsh realities of securing Europe in the post-wall world, 1990–1994." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 33.1 (2022): 158–193. * Stanger, Allison K. "Courting the Generals: The Impact of Russia's Constitutional Crisis on Yeltsin's Foreign Policy." ''Russia and Eastern Europe After Communism'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 297–313
online
* Strickland, David A. "Overriding Democracy: American Intervention in Yeltsin's 1996 Reelection Campaign." ''Footnotes: A Journal of History'' 4 (2020): 166–181
online
* Talbott, Strobe. "Clinton and Yeltsin." ''Diplomatic History'' 42.4 (2018): 568–571. * Yeltsin, Boris. ''Against the Grain''. (London: Jonathan Cape, 1990), a primary source. * Yeltsin, Boris. ''The Struggle for Russia''. (New York: Times Books, 1994), a primary source
online
* Zezina, M.R. et al. ''A Man Of ChangeA study of the political life of Boris Yeltsin'' (2014
online


External links

*
CNN Cold War – Profile: Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin

Archival footage of Boris Yeltsin
o
Net-Film Newsreels and Documentary Films Archive

Yeltsin and Post-Soviet Problems
from th
Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives
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