1991-1999 Leader of the Russian Federation.
One of the most loved politicians in the final days of Soviet Union but much hated after the Chechen Wars, economic shock therapy, and revelations of corruption. He was a truly controversial President.
Background
Lived: 1931-2007.
Boris Yeltsin was born in a village of Butka near Sverdlovsk. His father was a builder and his mother, seamstress. Yeltsin studied construction engineering at the University of Yekaterinburg, where he also met his wife Naina.
Career
His rapid rise was that of a typical party official: from construction foreman (nicknamed “The Bulldozer”) to local party functionary to the head of the Sverdlovsk party organization in 1976.
In 1985, Yeltsin was appointed by Gorbachev to be the new Moscow Party leader after Viktor Grishin. He openly criticized Deputy Secretary Yegor Ligachev for carrying out reforms too slowly and took the peoples’ side against the party establishment. In November 1987, Gorbachev fired Yeltsin from his post, after two years of office.
By that time Yeltsin had become the people’s most loved politician, and in the election for The Congress of People’s Deputies he won 89% of the vote.
He rose alongside Gorbachev in March 1991 as the President of the Russian Federation and took the initiative in dissolving the Soviet Union.
Presidency
Yeltsin’s immense popularity was all lost in the turmoil of the economic “shock therapy”. In 1993, he had to defend his power from the elected parliament’s threat of impeachment by sending tanks to dissolve the parliament.
Re-election
Yeltsin’s popularity was somewhat revived during an immense and expensive presidential campaign that won him back the post but also caused him several fatal heart attacks.
After resigning 31 December 1999 in favour of Vladimir Putin, he and his family were granted immunity, and he lived quietly until his death in 2007.
Boris Yeltsin
1991-1999 Leader of the Russian Federation.
One of the most loved politicians in the final days of Soviet Union but much hated after the Chechen Wars, economic shock therapy, and revelations of corruption. He was a truly controversial President.
Background
Lived: 1931-2007.
Boris Yeltsin was born in a village of Butka near Sverdlovsk. His father was a builder and his mother, seamstress. Yeltsin studied construction engineering at the University of Yekaterinburg, where he also met his wife Naina.
Career
His rapid rise was that of a typical party official: from construction foreman (nicknamed “The Bulldozer”) to local party functionary to the head of the Sverdlovsk party organization in 1976.
In 1985, Yeltsin was appointed by Gorbachev to be the new Moscow Party leader after Viktor Grishin. He openly criticized Deputy Secretary Yegor Ligachev for carrying out reforms too slowly and took the peoples’ side against the party establishment. In November 1987, Gorbachev fired Yeltsin from his post, after two years of office.
By that time Yeltsin had become the people’s most loved politician, and in the election for The Congress of People’s Deputies he won 89% of the vote.
He rose alongside Gorbachev in March 1991 as the President of the Russian Federation and took the initiative in dissolving the Soviet Union.
Presidency
Yeltsin’s immense popularity was all lost in the turmoil of the economic “shock therapy”. In 1993, he had to defend his power from the elected parliament’s threat of impeachment by sending tanks to dissolve the parliament.
Re-election
Yeltsin’s popularity was somewhat revived during an immense and expensive presidential campaign that won him back the post but also caused him several fatal heart attacks.
After resigning 31 December 1999 in favour of Vladimir Putin, he and his family were granted immunity, and he lived quietly until his death in 2007.
Yegor Gaidar