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.

Life after resignation

Yeltsin's personal and health problems received a lot of attention in the global press. As the years went on, he was seen as an increasingly unstable leader, and not the inspiring figure he once was. The possibility that he might die in office was often discussed.

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Yeltsin has remained very low-key since his resignation, making almost no public statements or appearances. However, on September 13, 2004, following the Beslan school hostage crisis, and nearly-concurrent terrorist attacks in Moscow, Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directly appointed by the President and approved by regional legislatures. Yeltsin, together with Mikhail Gorbachev, publicly criticized Putin's plan as a step away from democracy in Russia and a return to the centrally run political apparatus of the Soviet era.

Related Topics:
September 13 - 2004 - Beslan school hostage crisis

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In September 2005, Yeltsin underwent a hip operation in Moscow after breaking his femur in a fall while vacationing on the Italian island of Sardinia.

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