Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1931-2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the first president of Russia from 1991 to 1999. Born in Butka, Ural Oblast, Yeltsin grew up in Kazan and Berezniki. After studying at the Ural State Technical University, he worked in construction before joining the Communist Party. Rising through the ranks, he became the First Secretary of the party's Sverdlovsk Oblast committee in 1976. Initially supporting perestroika, Yeltsin later criticized it as too moderate and called for a transition to a multi-party representative democracy. In 1987, he became the first person to resign from the Politburo. Yeltsin is widely regarded for his role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and implementing market reforms in Russia.