Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin {{Audio|ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg|listen}} (Russian: ????? ?????????? ??????, Boris Nikolaevi? El'cin; b. 1 February 1931, Butka (Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, Soviet Union), was president of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was the first democratically elected leader in the country's history.

CPSU Member

Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to July 1990, he began working in the Communist administration in 1969. In 1977 as party boss in Sverdlovsk, he ordered the destruction of the Ipatiev House where the last Tsar had been murdered. Appointed to the Politburo by Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin was also "Mayor" of Moscow (First Secretary of the CPSU Moscow City Committee) from December 24 1985 to 1987, when he was sacked from both positions after criticizing Gorbachev and the pace of reform in the USSR.

Related Topics:
Communist Party of the Soviet Union - 1961 - July - 1990 - 1969 - 1977 - Tsar - Politburo - Mikhail Gorbachev - Moscow - December 24 - 1985 - 1987

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The brusque manner of his criticisms of Gorbachev during meetings of the politburo violated a convention of procedure which mandated that strong criticisms be circulated beforehand to avoid personal clashes during actual meetings. Yeltsin was not exiled or imprisoned as once would have been the consequence, but demoted to the position of First Deputy Commissioner for the State Committee for Construction. Yeltsin was perturbed and humiliated but plotted his revenge. His opening came with Gorbachev's establishment of the Congress of People's Deputies.

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