Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Борис Николаевич Ельцин, Romanized: Boris Nikolayevich Yel'tsin, February 1, 1931 - April 23, 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of Russia, serving from 1991 to 1999. Previously, he served as an alternate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, first secretary of the Moscow Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia. In 1990, Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Russia. In 1991, he was elected President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the election, becoming the first democratically elected head of state in Russian history. In December of the same year, he contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and replaced it with Russia as the main successor. Yeltsin is a controversial politician who rose to prominence during the Soviet Communist years for vowing to fight corruption, but his regime has been plagued by corruption scandals and other inconsistencies. For example, although he verbally adhered to liberalism and democracy, he questioned and banned some top leaders of the Soviet Communist Party who used force during the August 19th Incident, but he was also involved in destroying the democratic system during the Russian constitutional crisis in 1993. In the end, he used force to suppress dissidents. Later, in 1996, Yeltsin was re-elected as president in a controversial election. On December 31, 1999, he announced his resignation a few hours before entering the year 2000. He bypassed the voters and handed power to Putin to promote this succession. At that time, the people across the country were shocked by his decision to leave suddenly. After the then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became acting president and was successfully elected, Yeltsin's political career came to an end. After Putin took office, he also treated his promoter judicially. Yeltsin has largely kept a low profile since his resignation, occasionally publicly criticizing his successor. Yeltsin died of congestive heart failure on April 23, 2007. However, when he was in power, he vigorously promoted values ​​such as privatization and market economy, and successfully gained the West's tolerance for his arbitrary approach. At the same time, he adopted the "shock therapy" piloted in some countries at the time to bring Russia to capitalism as soon as possible. However, this move was improperly followed and the Russian economy was on the verge of collapse. In order to regain support, the government condoned the expansion of local forces, making the rule of law reforms difficult to implement and full of injustice. They jointly kidnapped crony groups. In addition, his role, words and deeds in the disintegration of the Soviet Union once encouraged ethnic groups within the Russian Federation.