Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin was born in a peasant family in the Ural region of Russia. He studied at the Ural Polytechnic Institute and became a construction engineer. He joined the Communist Party in 1961 and rose through the ranks of the party bureaucracy, becoming the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee in 1976. He moved to Moscow in 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev appointed him as the head of the Moscow city party committee. He soon became one of the most prominent and popular reformers in the Soviet Union, supporting Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost. He also clashed with the conservative wing of the party, which led to his dismissal from the Politburo in 1988 and his resignation from the party in 1990. He then became the leader of the democratic opposition to the Soviet regime, forming the Russia's Choice bloc and winning the election for the presidency of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1991. He played a crucial role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union, declaring Russia's independence and forming the Commonwealth of Independent States with other former Soviet republics. He also resisted the attempted coup by hard-line communists in August 1991, rallying the people to defend the White House, the seat of the Russian parliament. As the president of the newly independent Russia, Yeltsin faced enormous challenges of transforming the country from a totalitarian state to a democracy and from a planned economy to a market economy. He initiated radical economic reforms, such as privatization, deregulation, and price liberalization, which aimed to create a free market and attract foreign investment. However, these reforms also resulted in a severe economic crisis, characterized by hyperinflation, unemployment, poverty, corruption, and social unrest. Yeltsin also faced political opposition from the parliament, which resisted his reforms and challenged his authority. This led to a constitutional crisis in 1993, when Yeltsin dissolved the parliament and ordered the army to storm the White House, ending the standoff with bloodshed. He then held a referendum to approve a new constitution, which granted him extensive presidential powers. Yeltsin also faced the problem of maintaining the territorial integrity of Russia, as several regions and ethnic groups demanded more autonomy or independence. The most violent conflict erupted in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim republic in the North Caucasus, which declared its secession from Russia in 1991. Yeltsin sent troops to suppress the rebellion, but the war turned into a protracted and brutal guerrilla warfare, which claimed thousands of lives and caused massive human rights violations and atrocities. The first Chechen war ended with a ceasefire in 1996, but the second Chechen war broke out in 1999, after a series of terrorist attacks in Russia blamed on Chechen separatists. Yeltsin's health deteriorated during his presidency, as he suffered from heart problems, alcoholism, and depression. He became increasingly isolated and dependent on his entourage, known as the "Family", which included his daughter Tatyana, his chief of staff Valentin Yumashev, and his security chief Alexander Korzhakov. He also frequently reshuffled his cabinet, changing his prime minister five times in less than two years. His public support and legitimacy eroded, as he faced criticism and ridicule for his erratic and embarrassing behavior. He resigned from the presidency on December 31, 1999, handing over power to his chosen successor, Vladimir Putin. He retired from public life and rarely appeared in the media. He died of heart failure in 2007, at the age of 76. He was buried with state honors in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. He is widely regarded as a controversial and contradictory figure in Russian history, praised for his role in ending the Soviet dictatorship and reviving Russian statehood, but also criticized for his authoritarian tendencies and his responsibility for the economic and social hardships of the 1990s.