Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin
Борис Николаевич Ельцин
The man who climbed onto the tank
In a New Year's address broadcast at 12:00 Moscow time on 31 December 1999: "I am resigning. I have done everything I could. … I want to ask you for forgiveness, because many of our hopes have not come true."
Born in Butka in the Urals in 1931 to a peasant family ruined as kulaks in collectivisation, he died in Moscow in 2007. A construction engineer who joined the party in 1961, he served as first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional party (1976–85) and Moscow city party chief (1985–87), and was removed after criticising the leadership at the Central Committee plenum of 21 October 1987. He became an RSFSR people's deputy in 1990 and then chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet (1990–91), winning the presidency in June 1991 and serving until 1999.
Career timeline
- 1976–1985First Secretary of Sverdlovsk region
- 1985–1987Moscow party chief; popular for attacking privilege
- 1987Removed after criticizing the leadership to its face
- 1989–1990Landslide deputy; chairs the Russian parliament; quits the party
- 1991.06President of Russia, the first direct election
- 1991.08Faces down the coup
- 1991.12Signs the Belavezha accords
- 1999.12.31Resigns, asking his people’s forgiveness