(February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007) was, from 1991 to 1999, the first President of the Russian Federation. The Yeltsin era was a dramatic period in Russian history—a period marked by enormous political change and the introduction of liberal democracy—together with enormous political, economic and social problems, including widespread corruption, a dramatic decline in the income of average Russians and a decline in life expectancy.
Boris Yeltsin in Power
In June 1991, Yeltsin came to power on a wave of high expectations for change and disillusionment with Communist rule. On June 12, Yeltsin was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first popularly elected president in Russian history. But Yeltsin never recovered his popularity after endorsing radical economic reforms in early 1992, which were widely blamed by his opponents for deteriorating the living standards of most of the Russian population. By the time he left office, Yeltsin was a deeply unpopular figure in Russia, with an approval rating as low as two percent by some estimates.
Following the dissolution of Soviet Union in December 1991, Yeltsin—vowing to transform Russia's socialist planned economy into a capitalist market economy—endorsed a program of "shock therapy," cutting Soviet-era price controls and introducing drastic cuts in state spending. The reforms immediately devastated the living standards of much of the population, especially the groups dependent on Soviet-era state subsidies and welfare entitlement programs. By mid decade, Russia had suffered an economic downturn more severe than the United States or Germany had undergone six decades earlier in the Great Depression. Through the 1990s, Russia's GDP fell 50 percent, vast sectors of the economy were wiped out, income inequality and unemployment grew dramatically, hyperinflation wiped out many families' savings, and tens of millions of Russians were plunged into poverty.
In August 1991, Yeltsin won international plaudits for casting himself as a democrat and defying the August coup attempt of 1991 by hard-line Communists. But he left office widely despised as a desperate, ailing autocrat among the Russian population, according to one commentator. As president, Yeltsin's conception of the presidency was highly autocratic. Yeltsin either acted as his own prime minister (until June 1992) or appointed men of his choice, regardless of parliament. His confrontations with parliament climaxed in the October 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, when Yeltsin called up tanks to shell the Russian White House, blasting out his opponents in parliament. Later in 1993, Yeltsin imposed a new constitution with strong presidential powers, which was approved by referendum in December.
After the 1998 Russian financial crisis, Yeltsin was at the end of his political career. Just hours before the first day of 2000, Yeltsin made a surprise announcement of his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of Vladimir Putin.
Yeltsin's second term
In July 1996, Yeltsin was re-elected as president with financial support from influential business oligarchs who owed their wealth to their connections with Yeltsin's administration. Despite only gaining 35% of the first round vote in the 1996 elections, Yeltsin successfully defeated his communist rival Gennady Zyuganov in the runoff election. Later that year, Yeltsin underwent heart bypass surgery and remained in the hospital for months.
During Yeltsin's presidency, he received US$ 40 billion in funds from the IMF and other international lending organizations which were supposed to support him politically and help Russia's economy. However, his opponents allege that most of these funds were stolen by people from Yeltsin's circle and placed in foreign banks.
In 1998, a political and economic crisis emerged when Yeltsin's government defaulted on its debts, causing financial markets to panic and the ruble, to collapse in the 1998 financial crisis.
During the 1999 Kosovo war, Yeltsin strongly opposed the NATO military campaign against 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 toward military action. Otherwise there will be a European war for sure and possibly world war."
On May 15, 1999, Yeltsin survived yet another attempt of impeachment, this time by the democratic and communist opposition in the State Duma. He was charged with several unconstitutional activities - most importantly, the signing of the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union in December 1991, the coup-d'état in October 1993, and initiating the war in Chechnya in 1994. None of these charges received the two-thirds majority of the Duma which was required to initiate the process of impeachment of the president.
On August 9, 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, relatively unknown at that time, and announced his wish to see Putin as his successor.
During November and December of 1999 Yeltsin and President Clinton escalated sparring over Russia’s occupation of Chechnya. Speaking before a 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 while visiting China to seek support on Chechnya, Yeltsin replied to Clinton’s criticism of a Russian ultimatum to citizens of Grozney. 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 Vladimir Putin to down play Yeltsin’s comments and present reassurances about U.S. and Russian relations.
Resignation of Yeltsin
On December 31, 1999, in a surprise announcement made live on Russian television, Yeltsin said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin would take over as acting president, with elections due to take place on March 26, 2000. Yeltsin asked for forgiveness for what he acknowledged were errors of his rule, and said Russia needed to enter the new century with new political leaders. Yeltsin said: "I want to beg forgiveness for your dreams that never came true. And also I would like to beg forgiveness not to have justified your hopes."
Death of Yeltsin
Kremlin spokesperson Alexander Smirnov confirmed Boris Yeltsin's death on 23 April 2007. An unidentified medical source reported to Interfax that he died of heart failure. He was 76. He will be buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery on 25 April 2007.April 25th was declared by President Putin to be a national day of mourning with flags flown at half-staff and all entertainment programs suspended for the day.
Shortly after the news broke, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev issued a statement, saying:
"I offer my deepest condolences to the family of a man on whose shoulders rested many great deeds for the good of the country and serious mistakes—a tragic fate".
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