Who was the first president of Russia. Biography

Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin (born February 1, 1931 in the village of Butka, Talitsky district, Sverdlovsk (Ural) region, died April 23, 2007) - the first President of Russia, was elected to this position twice - June 12, 1991 and June 16 - July 3, 1996 year, occupied it from July 10, 1991 to December 31, 1999, Soviet and Russian political and statesman.

Boris Yeltsin, even during his presidency, became an epic figure for fellow citizens. Popular rumor attributed to him the most incredible feats. What is one story about a fall in a bag from a bridge worth!

But the real events with his participation often looked like a performance: here Yeltsin in an armored car calls on the people to defend democracy; here he is conducting an orchestra in Germany, talking about "squiggles" and "castle". And even his very departure from the political scene - with a glass of champagne under the New Year tree - was furnished with remarkable artistic taste.

Let us recall the most interesting episodes from the life of Boris Yeltsin.

Childhood and youth

Born on February 1, 1931 in the village of Butka, Talitsky District, Sverdlovsk Region, in a family of dispossessed peasants. Father - Yeltsin Nikolai Ignatievich (1901-7?), mother - Yeltsin (Starygina) Claudia Vasilievna.

During the baptism, the drunken priest who baptized Boris almost drowned him in the font, after which they pumped him out and decided, as strong and tenacious enough, to call him Boris

Yeltsin spent his childhood in the city of Berezniki, Perm Region, where he graduated from high school.

As a high school student, Boris stole an RGD-33 grenade from an armory and, wanting to find out how it works, took it to the forest, put it on a stone and hit it with a hammer, forgetting to pull out the fuse, as a result of which he injured his hand and was left without two fingers

19-year-old Boris Yeltsin failed to enter the Ural Polytechnic Institute in 1950 due to the fact that his grandfather, a church warden, was dispossessed and his father was repressed. The stigma of the son and grandson of "enemies of the people" stood on Yeltsin until the very perestroika and did not allow him to fully realize his intellect, willpower and craving for power.

While studying at the institute, he made a two-month trip around the country, moving on the roofs and footboards of wagons, got into an unpleasant story, playing “borax” with criminals.

Labor beginning of life

In 1955, he was assigned to the Uraltyazhtrubstroy trust, where he mastered several construction specialties in a year, then worked on the construction of various objects as a foreman, site manager, and chief control engineer.

While working as a machinist on a BKSM-5.5A tower crane, due to negligence he forgot to fix the crane after a working day, at night he discovered that it was moving, climbed into the control cabin and stopped the crane at the risk of his life.

When Yeltsin worked as a foreman at a construction site, criminals were given to him as subordinates. He refused to close their outfits for unfinished work, after which one of the criminals ambushed him with an ax and demanded to close the outfits, threatening to kill him if he refused, to which Yeltsin answered him: “Get out!”, and the criminal had no choice but to throw an ax and follow in the direction indicated by Yeltsin

In 1961 he joined the CPSU. In 1963 he was appointed chief engineer, and soon - the head of the Sverdlovsk house-building plant.

Politics

In 1963, at the XXIV conference of the party organization of the Kirovsky district of the city of Sverdlovsk, he was unanimously elected a delegate to the city conference of the CPSU. At the XXV regional conference he was elected a member of the Kirov district committee of the CPSU and a delegate to the Sverdlovsk regional conference of the CPSU.

In 1968 he was transferred to party work in the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, where he headed the construction department. In 1975 he was elected secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, responsible for the industrial development of the region.

In 1976, on the recommendation of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he was elected first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU (the actual head of the Sverdlovsk region), he held this position until 1985. He organized the construction of a highway connecting Sverdlovsk with the north of the region, as well as the resettlement of residents from barracks to new houses. He organized the execution of the decision of the Politburo on the demolition of the Ipatiev house (the place of execution of the royal family in 1918), achieved the adoption of the decision of the Politburo on the construction of the subway in Sverdlovsk.

1978-89 - Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (member of the Council of the Union). From 1984 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1988 he was a member of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces. In addition, in 1981, at the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU and held this position until he left the party in 1990.

In December 1985, after the election of M. Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, he became the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU, and later - a candidate member of the Politburo of the Party Central Committee, took up the purge of district party committees, executive committees of the Soviets of People's Deputies, in April headed the construction department of the CPSU Central Committee, and in June 1985 he was elected secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (for construction).

In December 1985, he was recommended by the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee for the post of First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU. Arriving at this position, he fired many senior officials of the CPSU MGK and the first secretaries of the district committees. He became popular thanks to numerous populist moves, such as taking public transport, checking stores and warehouses, and allowed relative freedom of speech in the urban press. Organized food fairs in Moscow. In recent months, he began to publicly criticize the leadership of the party, in October 1987, after a series of conflicts with the leadership of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, he spoke quite sharply at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU and “voluntarily” resigned from the post of first secretary of the Moscow City Committee, ended up in the hospital. In November 1987 he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Gosstroy of the USSR - Minister of the USSR.

In October 1987, he criticized Yegor Ligachev at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Implicitly, the speech contained attacks against General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. He demanded more drastic reforms. The Plenum condemned this speech.

On March 26, 1989, he was elected People's Deputy of the USSR for the national-territorial district No. 1 (Moscow city), receiving 90 percent of the votes of Muscovites. It was the first alternative election in Moscow in decades (Yeltsin was opposed by the government-backed general director of ZIL, Yevgeny Brakov). From June 1989 to December 1990 - Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1989, a series of scandals occurred: in the summer of 1989, Yeltsin, invited to the United States, allegedly spoke while drunk, and on September 28, 1989, Yeltsin fell into the water from a bridge near a government dacha. According to the stories of his chief bodyguard Korzhakov, Yeltsin told him that unknown people put a bag over his head and threw him off the bridge. What actually happened is still unknown. For a long time there were rumors about revenge on Yeltsin by the party elite and an attempt to discredit him. (A.V. Korzhakov. Boris Yeltsin from dawn to dusk. M., 1997.)

As for the speeches with which Yeltsin traveled around the United States of America at the end of 1989, the Soviet newspapers wrote that Yeltsin performed while intoxicated, and his poorly coordinated movements were shown on TV (which, however, could be the result of film editing). Yeltsin himself explained his inadequate state by the action of sleeping pills, which he took, struggling with overexertion and insomnia.

In March 1990, he was elected People's Deputy of the RSFSR from Sverdlovsk; on May 29, 1990, he was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. In July 1990, he left the CPSU. During the period of parliamentary activity, he sharply criticized the policy of Gorbachev and the Soviet government, spoke sharply negatively about the existing system of distribution of material wealth.

In 1990, despite the opposition of Mikhail Gorbachev and the party nomenklatura, he was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

The president

June 12, 1991 - elected president of the RSFSR, receiving 45,552,041 votes, which amounted to 57.30 percent of those who took part in the vote, and significantly ahead of Nikolai Ryzhkov, who, despite the support of the federal authorities and the party nomenklatura, received only 16.85 percent of votes. Together with Yeltsin, Vice-President Alexander Rutskoi was elected. Their main slogans were the struggle against the privileges of the nomenklatura and the independence of Russia from the USSR.

On July 10, 1991, Yeltsin took an oath of allegiance to the people of Russia and took office as president of the RSFSR. One of Yeltsin's first presidential decrees dealt with the liquidation of party organizations at enterprises. Yeltsin negotiated the signing of a new union treaty with Mikhail Gorbachev and the heads of other union republics.

On August 19, 1991, after the announcement of the creation of the State Emergency Committee and the isolation of Gorbachev in Crimea, Yeltsin led the opposition to the conspirators and turned the Russian House of Soviets ("White House") into a center of resistance. Already on the first day of the coup, Yeltsin, speaking from an armored personnel carrier in front of the White House, called the actions of the GKChP a coup d'état, then published a number of decrees on non-recognition of the actions of the GKChP. On August 23, Yeltsin signed a decree on the suspension, and on November 6, on the termination of the activities of the CPSU.

In October 1991, Boris Yeltsin, speaking at the Congress of People's Deputies, announced the beginning of radical economic reforms and personally headed the Russian government for a short time. One of the first major economic decisions made by Yeltsin was the decree on free trade.

In December 1991, Boris Yeltsin held talks with Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and head of the Belarusian parliament Stanislav Shushkevich on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The result of the meeting is the liquidation of the USSR and the proclamation of the so-called. Commonwealth of Independent States. On December 25, he signed the Declaration of Independence of Russia. On December 8, an agreement on the creation of the CIS was signed in Minsk, and soon most of the union republics joined the Commonwealth, signing the Alma-Ata Declaration on December 21.

On December 25, 1991, Boris Yeltsin received full presidential power in Russia in connection with the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the collapse of the USSR. After Gorbachev's resignation, Yeltsin was given a residence in the Kremlin and the so-called nuclear briefcase.

After the collapse of the USSR, Boris Yeltsin embarked on a radical economic reform in the country. On January 2, 1992, Yeltsin's decree on price liberalization in Russia came into force. However, problems with providing the population with food and consumer goods have been replaced by problems associated with hyperinflation. The money savings of citizens have depreciated, and prices and exchange rates have increased several times over several months; It was only in 1993 that hyperinflation was stopped. Other decrees of Yeltsin initiated voucher privatization and loans-for-shares auctions. In addition to hyperinflation, the country faced problems such as a decline in production and non-payments. The country was in a deep economic crisis.

The political crisis was added to the economic problems. Separatist sentiments intensified in some regions after the collapse of the USSR. So, in Chechnya they did not recognize the sovereignty of Russia on its territory at all, in Tatarstan they were going to introduce their own currency and refused to pay taxes to the federal budget. Boris Yeltsin managed to convince the heads of regions to sign the Federal Treaty, on March 31, 1992 it was signed by the president and heads of regions (except for Tatarstan and Chechnya), and on April 10 it was included in the Russian Constitution. Yeltsin's well-known phrase addressed to the heads of subjects of the federation belongs to this period: "Take as much sovereignty as you want." Fulfilling this promise, Yeltsin ordered the withdrawal of the armed forces of the Russian Federation from the territory of Chechnya, while transferring the armory of the military units to the local government, which actually gave them to the looters to plunder.

On December 10, 1992, the day after the Congress of People's Deputies did not approve Yegor Gaidar's candidacy for the post of Prime Minister, Boris Yeltsin sharply criticized the work of the Congress of People's Deputies and tried to disrupt its work by urging his supporters to leave the meeting, a constitutional crisis began. After negotiations between Boris Yeltsin, Ruslan Khasbulatov and Viktor Zorkin and a multi-stage vote, the Congress of People's Deputies adopted a resolution on the stabilization of the constitutional order, and Viktor Chernomyrdin was appointed chairman of the government.

After the Eighth Congress of People's Deputies, which denied the extension of the "emergency powers" of the president, on March 20, 1993, Boris Yeltsin addressed the people in which he announced the introduction of a special regime of government. The decree on a special management regime was never signed, however, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized Yeltsin's actions as unconstitutional and found grounds for removing him from office. On March 28, the Congress of People's Deputies made an attempt to do this, but only 617 out of 1,097 deputies voted for impeachment, with the required 699 votes.

The day after the failure of the impeachment attempt, the Congress of People's Deputies scheduled an all-Russian referendum on April 25 on four issues - on confidence in President Yeltsin, on approval of his socio-economic policy, on early presidential elections and on early elections of people's deputies. Boris Yeltsin urged his supporters to vote "all four yes", while the supporters themselves tended to vote "yes-yes-no-yes". According to the results of the referendum on confidence, he received 58.7% of the votes, while 53.0% voted for economic reforms, and on issues of early elections of the president and people's deputies, 49.5% and 67.2% of active voters voted in favor, respectively .

After the referendum, Yeltsin focused his efforts on drafting and adopting a new constitution. On April 30, the presidential draft of the Constitution was published in the Izvestia newspaper, on May 18 the start of the work of the Constitutional Conference was announced, and on June 5 the Constitutional Conference met for the first time in Moscow. After the referendum, Yeltsin practically stopped all business contacts with the leadership of the Supreme Council, although for some time he continued to sign some of the laws adopted by him, and also lost confidence in Vice President Alexander Rutskoi and released him from all assignments, and on September 2 he was temporarily removed from office on suspicion in corruption.

On the evening of September 21, 1993, Boris Yeltsin, in a televised address to the people, announced the dissolution of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council and the appointment of elections to the State Duma for December 11-12, and signed the corresponding decree No. 1400, which did not correspond to the Constitution in force at that time.

The Constitutional Court, which met on the night of September 21-22 on its own initiative, established the existence of grounds for removing the president from office, the leadership of the dissolved Supreme Council announced the termination of Yeltsin's powers, and Vice-President Rutskoi declared himself acting president of the Russian Federation, took an oath and began appointing his own ministers. The leadership of the Supreme Soviet made an attempt to convene the Congress of People's Deputies, but a little more than 400 deputies arrived at the meeting, that is, less than the quorum necessary to start work.

On October 3-4, the violent confrontation between the president and the law enforcement forces loyal to him and supporters of the dissolved Supreme Council escalated into armed clashes. On October 3, supporters of the Supreme Council, at the call of Alexander Rutskoi, stormed the building of the Moscow City Hall and went to storm the Ostankino television center, and on October 4, Yeltsin announced a state of emergency and, together with Viktor Chernomyrdin and Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, decided to storm the building of the House of Soviets. The storming of the city hall building, the Ostankino TV center and, especially, the storming of the House of Soviets building with the use of tanks led to numerous casualties (according to official data - more than 150 people, according to some experts - much more). A. V. Rutskoy, R. I. Khasbulatov and some other participants in the events were arrested, but in February 1994 they were amnestied.

After the dissolution of the Supreme Council, Yeltsin concentrated all power in his hands for a short time and made a number of decisions: on the resignation of A.V. local self-government, on the appointment of elections to the Federation Council and a popular vote, as well as by its decrees, cancels and changes a number of provisions of existing laws.

On December 12, 1993, a nationwide vote on the Constitution was held, as well as elections to the Federation Council and the State Duma. The new Constitution of the Russian Federation gave the President significant powers, while the powers of the Parliament were significantly reduced. The constitution, after being published on December 25 in the Russian newspaper, entered into force. On January 11, 1994, both chambers of the Federal Assembly began their work, the constitutional crisis ended. At the beginning of 1994, Boris N. Yeltsin initiated the signing of an agreement on public consent and an agreement on the delimitation of powers with Tatarstan, and then with other subjects of the Federation, except for Chechnya.

At the end of November 1994, Yeltsin, by his own admission, made the biggest mistake of his life - he authorized an attempt to overthrow the separatist regime of General Dzhokhar Dudayev in Chechnya. He signed secret decree No. 2137 "On establishing constitutional order in the Chechen Republic", and started the first Chechen war. On November 26, 1994, the first attempt to storm Grozny failed. The fighting in Grozny continued throughout January, and only by April-May 1995 did Russian troops take control of most of the territory of Chechnya, the war in which passed into the partisan stage. In June 1995, during a raid by the Basayev gang on a hospital and a maternity hospital in Budennovsk, Yeltsin was in Canada and decided not to stop the trip, giving Chernomyrdin the opportunity to resolve the situation and negotiate with the bandits, returned only after the completion of all the events, fired the heads of a number of law enforcement agencies and Governor of the Stavropol Territory

According to the testimonies of people who worked with Yeltsin, he abused alcohol. When he asked the guards to run for vodka, they went to Korzhakov, who allegedly secretly diluted the vodka and sealed the bottle using an apparatus that was confiscated from counterfeit vodka dealers and transferred to the police museum, and later to Korzhakov.

After drinking alcohol at official receptions during visits, Yeltsin began to behave strangely - in Germany he tried to conduct an orchestra, and on the flight from the USA to Moscow he felt unwell and could not get off the plane for the planned negotiations with the Prime Minister of Ireland at Shannon Airport, which his security service explained that he was "slightly ill". Later, after a heart operation, doctors forbade Yeltsin to drink.

In early 1996, B. N. Yeltsin, due to the failures and mistakes of economic reform and the war in Chechnya, lost his former popularity and his rating fell sharply, nevertheless, he decided to run for a second term, which he announced on February 15 in Yekaterinburg. The main opponent of B. N. Yeltsin was the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, G. A. Zyuganov, who advocated a change in the constitutional order, a revision of economic policy, sharply criticized Yeltsin's course and had a fairly high rating. During the election campaign, Yeltsin became more active, began to actively travel around the country with speeches, visited many regions, including Chechnya. Yeltsin's election headquarters launched an active propaganda and advertising campaign under the slogan "vote or lose", after which the gap in the rating between Zyuganov and Yeltsin began to rapidly shrink. On May 28, Yeltsin and Chernomyrdin held talks with a Chechen delegation headed by Z. A. Yandarbiev and signed a ceasefire agreement. The election campaign led to the polarization of society, dividing it into supporters of the Soviet system and supporters of the existing system.

According to the results of the first round of voting on June 16, 1996, B. N. Yeltsin won 35.28 percent of the vote and entered the second round of elections, ahead of G. A. Zyuganov, who received 32.03 percent. A. I. Lebed received 14.52 percent, and after the first round, B. N. Yeltsin appointed him Secretary of the Security Council and made a number of personnel changes in the Government and law enforcement agencies. In the second round on July 3, 1996, B. N. Yeltsin received 53.82 percent of the vote, confidently ahead of Zyuganov, who received only 40.31 percent. Until now, experts are arguing about the extent of the falsifications that allowed Yeltsin to count much more votes than actually voted for him.

A few days before the second round of voting, B. N. Yeltsin was hospitalized with an exacerbation of coronary heart disease, but managed to hide this fact from the voters, appearing at his polling station on July 3 in a normal form. After the elections, he switched off from governing the country for a long time and did not appear before the voters for some time, he appeared only at the inauguration ceremony on August 9, which took place according to a greatly reduced procedure due to Yeltsin's poor condition. In August 1996, he sanctioned the Khasavyurt agreements to end the first Chechen war, in October he decided to release A. I. Lebed from all posts. Thus, Yeltsin only used Lebed's considerable popularity among the people to win in the second round, without fulfilling his promises.

On November 5, 1996, cardiac surgeon Renat Akchurin performed coronary artery bypass surgery for Yeltsin, during which V. S. Chernomyrdin acted as President. B. N. Yeltsin returned to full-fledged work only in the second quarter of 1997.

In 1997, B. N. Yeltsin signed a decree on the denomination of the ruble, held talks in Moscow with A. A. Maskhadov and signed an agreement on peace and the basic principles of relations with the Chechen Republic. In March 1998, he announced the resignation of the Chernomyrdin Government and on the third attempt, under the threat of the dissolution of the State Duma, he put in place the candidacy of S. V. Kiriyenko. After the economic crisis of August 1998, when the ruble depreciated 4 times, he dismissed the Kiriyenko Government and offered to return Chernomyrdin, and in September 1998, with the consent of the State Duma, he appointed E. M. Primakov to this position.

In May 1999, the State Duma unsuccessfully tried to raise the issue of removing Yeltsin from office (the five charges formulated by the initiators of the impeachment mainly concerned Yeltsin's actions during the first term). Before the vote on impeachment, Yeltsin dismissed the Primakov Government, then, with the consent of the State Duma, appointed S.V. and declared him his successor. After the aggravation of the situation in Chechnya, the attack on Dagestan, the explosions of residential buildings in Moscow, Buynaksk and Volgodonsk, B.N. Yeltsin, at the suggestion of V.V. Putin, decided to conduct a series of counter-terrorist operations in Chechnya. Putin's popularity increased, and Yeltsin, realizing that Putin would win the election, decided to resign.

December 31, 1999 at 12 o'clock in the morning (in New Year's greetings) B. N. Yeltsin makes a "New Year's gift" to the Russian people: he unexpectedly announces his resignation. The first decree, signed by the new President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on December 31, 1999, was the decree "On Guarantees to the President of the Russian Federation, who has ceased to exercise his powers, and to members of his family", giving lifelong immunity to the first president of Russia.

After resignation

On January 6, 2000, Yeltsin, no longer being President, led the Russian delegation during a visit to Bethlehem, planned during his reign

On May 7, 2000, Yeltsin took an active part in the inauguration ceremony of the new President V. V. Putin

In 2000, he created the Yeltsin Charitable Foundation.

In 2003, Yeltsin had to be present at the opening of a monument to himself on the territory of one of the Issyk-Kul boarding houses. One of the peaks in the Ala-Too mountains, crowning the Kok-Zhaiyk (Zelenaya Polyana) mountain gorge in one of the most beautiful places in Kyrgyzstan, is also named after him. After his resignation, Yeltsin visited several times on Lake Issyk-Kul with his friend, Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev.

In the same year, he allegedly wanted to stand as a candidate for the next presidential election, but after a conversation with V.V. Putin, he abandoned this idea.

In 2004, the name of Yeltsin was given to the Kyrgyz-Russian (Slavonic) University, the decree on the foundation of which Yeltsin signed in 1992.

September 7, 2005 - while on vacation in Sardinia, he broke his femur. Delivered to Moscow and operated on, on September 17, 2005 he was already discharged from the hospital.

On August 22, 2006, President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented Boris Yeltsin with the Order of Three Stars of the 1st degree "for recognizing the independence of Latvia in 1991, as well as for his contribution to the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Baltic countries and the building of a democratic Russia." At the award ceremony, Boris Yeltsin said that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's resistance to democratic sentiment in the Baltics was "a gross mistake." The award was timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the State Emergency Committee. Vike-Freiberga stressed that Yeltsin was rewarded for decisive action during the coup, which allowed Latvia to regain its independence. The Russian communities of Latvia, in turn, made a statement that by agreeing to accept the order, Boris Yeltsin thereby "betrayed the Russian inhabitants of Latvia" and "solidified with the undemocratic national policy" of the country. Yeltsin was accused of the fact that the act signed on August 24, 1991 on the recognition of the independence of Latvia by Russia did not contain any guarantees for the observance of the rights of national minorities, as a result of which, already on October 15, 1991, the Supreme Council of Latvia, by its decision, divided the entire population of the country into citizens and non-citizens.

April 23, 2007 Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin died suddenly from cardiac arrest.

Yeltsin-era governments

Vice President
Rutskoy, Alexander Vladimirovich - 1991-1993

Heads of Government
Gaidar, Egor Timurovich - acting Chairman
Chernomyrdin, Viktor Stepanovich - from December 1992 to March 1998
Kirienko, Sergey Vladilenovich - from April to August 1998
Primakov, Evgeny Maksimovich - from September 1998 to April 1999
Stepashin, Sergey Vadimovich - from May to August 1999
Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich - from August 1999 to May 2000

Ministers of Foreign Affairs
Kozyrev, Andrey Vladimirovich
Primakov, Evgeny Maksimovich
Ivanov, Igor Sergeevich

Ministers of Defense
Grachev, Pavel Sergeevich
Rodionov, Igor Nikolaevich
Sergeev, Igor Dmitrievich

Books by B. N. Yeltsin

B. N. Yeltsin is the author of three books (editored by Valentin Yumashev):
"Confession on a given topic" (1990) is a small book that intertwines an autobiography, a political creed and a story about Yeltsin's election campaign in the elections of people's deputies.
"Notes of the President" (1994) - a book written by the current president, it tells about such events of 1990-1993 as presidential elections, the August putsch (GKChP), the collapse of the USSR, the beginning of economic reforms, the constitutional crisis of 1992-1993, the events of September 21 - October 4, 1993 (dissolution of the Supreme Council).
"Presidential Marathon" (2000) - A book released shortly after the resignation, it tells about the second presidential election and the second presidential term.

Awards and titles of Yeltsin
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 1st class
The order of Lenin

Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Order of the Badge of Honor
Knight Grand Cross on the chain of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Order of the Golden Eagle (Kazakhstan)
Order of Good Hope (South Africa)
Order of Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class (Ukraine)
Knight of the Chain of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher (Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
Order of Francysk Skaryna (Belarus)
Chain of the Order of the Three Stars (Latvia)
Order "Bethlehem 2000" (Palestine)
Order of St. Dmitry Donskoy, 1st class (ROC)

His father Nikolai Ignatievich Yeltsin was a builder Claudia Vasilievna- a dressmaker. Both Boris Yeltsin's grandfathers - Vasily Starygin and Ignatiy Yeltsin - were middle-peasant peasants, had strong farms. During the period of collectivization, they were dispossessed and exiled. In the early 1930s, Yeltsin's father and his brother Adrian (he died during the Great Patriotic War) were arrested on a denunciation and received three years in the camps. The children in the family did not know anything about the arrest of their father. For the first time, Boris Yeltsin (already in the position of President of Russia) got acquainted with his “case”, which was kept in the KGB archive, only in 1992. In 1937, shortly after Nikolai Ignatievich Yeltsin was released, the family moved to the Perm region to build the Berezniki potash plant.

A photo:

Brothers Boris and Mikhail Yeltsin with their parents

Having successfully completed high school. A. S. Pushkin in Berezniki, B. N. Eltsin entered the construction department of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. S. M. Kirov (now the Ural Federal University - Ural Federal University named after B.N. Yeltsin) in Sverdlovsk with a degree in industrial and civil engineering.

Boris Yeltsin's student notebooks with lecture notes

While studying, he met his future wife Naina Girina. In 1956, a year after graduation, they got married. The family remained to live in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where Yeltsin worked on distribution in the Uraltyazhtrubstroy trust.

Archive of the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

Boris and Naina Yeltsin, 1950s

A certified builder, he was to receive the position of foreman. However, before taking it, Yeltsin preferred to get working professions: he alternately worked as a bricklayer, concrete worker, carpenter, carpenter, glazier, painter, plasterer, crane operator ...

In 1957, a daughter, Elena, was born in the Yeltsin family, and three years later, a daughter, Tatyana.

Photo from the family archive / Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin with his daughters Tatiana and Elena

From 1957 to 1963 - foreman, senior foreman, chief engineer, head of the construction department of the Yuzhgorstroy trust. In 1963, Yeltsin became the chief engineer of the best house-building plant in the region (DSK), and soon became its director.

Professional achievements and organizational talent attracted B.N. Yeltsin the attention of party organs.

In 1968, Yeltsin was appointed head of the construction department of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU. In 1975 he was elected secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU. In 1976 - First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU. In 1981, Boris Yeltsin became a member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Years of work as the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU put B.N. Yeltsin among the most promising party leaders. The successes of the region were repeatedly noted by the Soviet government and the Central Committee of the CPSU. The popularity of B.N. Yeltsin also grew among the inhabitants of the region. The years in which he led the region were marked by large-scale housing and industrial construction, the laying of roads (including the Yekaterinburg-Serov highway), and the intensive development of agriculture.

Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin. In production. Sverdlovsk

All these years, the wife of B.N. Yeltsina - - worked as the project manager of the design institute "Vodokanal".

In 1985 B.N. Yeltsin was invited to work in Moscow, in the central apparatus of the party. Since April 1985, he has been working as the head of the Construction Department of the CPSU Central Committee, since July of the same year - the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for construction issues.

By this time, Yeltsin's daughters had graduated from universities. Elena - Ural Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Civil and Industrial Engineering, Tatyana - Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University. In 1979, the first granddaughter appeared in the Yeltsin family - Elena had a daughter, Katya. And in 1982, Tatyana's first son was born - the full namesake of his grandfather, Boris Yeltsin. A year later, Elena gave birth to Masha.

In December 1985, B.N. Yeltsin headed the Moscow City Party Committee and in a short time gained immense popularity in various sectors of society. His style of work differed sharply from the traditional bureaucratic command-administrative style that Muscovites were accustomed to during the years of Brezhnev's stagnation. However, the party leadership was wary of the energetic Moscow secretary. Yeltsin faced opposition from the old party cadres - in such conditions it was extremely difficult to work effectively in a high post.

In September 1987, Yeltsin sent a letter to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU M.S. Gorbachev with a request to release him from the post of candidate member of the Politburo. The letter contained criticism of the party orthodoxies, who, according to Yeltsin, hampered the perestroika initiated by Gorbachev. However, Gorbachev did not respond to the letter. In this situation, Yeltsin decided to make a statement at the October (1987) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. During this speech, he essentially repeated the main theses outlined in the letter to Gorbachev. The reaction to a sharp speech at that time was unequivocal: party functionaries subjected him to harsh criticism, the position of B.N. Yeltsin and his assessments were "politically erroneous". The result of the discussion was a recommendation to the next plenum of the MGK CPSU to consider the question of the expediency of B.N. Yeltsin as First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee.

In November 1987 B.N. Yeltsin was relieved of his post as first secretary of the CPSU MGK, and in February 1988 he was removed from the list of candidates for membership in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and appointed first deputy chairman of the USSR Gosstroy. In this position, he worked until mid-1989. “I won’t let you into politics anymore,” Gorbachev told him.

In 1988, Yeltsin spoke at the XIX Party Conference with a request for "political rehabilitation", but again he did not meet with the support of the leadership of the CPSU.

Opala B.N. Yeltsin, unexpectedly for the country's leadership, led to an increase in his popularity. Yeltsin's speech at the October Plenum was not published, but there were numerous versions of it in samizdat, most of which had nothing to do with the original.

In 1989 B.N. Yeltsin participates in the elections of people's deputies of the USSR. He is running in Moscow and is gaining 91.5% of the vote. At the I Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May - June 1989), he becomes a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and at the same time - co-chairman of the opposition Interregional Deputy Group (MDG).

In May 1990, at a meeting of the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, Yeltsin was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

Boris Yeltsin accepts congratulations on his appointment as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR

Statement by the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR B.N. Yeltsin on withdrawal from the CPSU at the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU (July 12, 1990)

Gosteleradio

Text of Boris Yeltsin's speech at a press conference on his election as chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (May 30, 1990)

Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

On June 12, 1990, it was he who put the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of Russia to the roll-call vote of the congress. It was adopted by an overwhelming majority of votes ("for" - 907, "against" - 13, abstentions - 9).

In July 1990, at the XXVIII (last) Congress of the CPSU, Boris Yeltsin left the party.

June 12, 1991 B.N. Yeltsin was elected the first president of the RSFSR, gaining 57% of the vote (the closest rivals received: N.I. Ryzhkov - 17%, V.V. Zhirinovsky - 8%).

Inauguration of the President of the RSFSR. Boris Yeltsin takes the oath.

The ceremony of taking the oath by the President of the Russian Federation B.N. Yeltsin and his speech at the Extraordinary V Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR

Gosteleradio

In July 1991, he signed a decree on the termination of the activities of the organizational structures of political parties and mass social movements in state bodies, institutions and organizations of the RSFSR.

On August 19, an attempted coup d'etat was carried out in the USSR: the President of the USSR Gorbachev was removed from power, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) came to govern the country. The Russian president and his like-minded people became the center of resistance to the GKChP. B.N. Yeltsin delivered an “Appeal to the Citizens of Russia”, where he stated, in particular, the following: “We believe that such forceful methods are unacceptable. They discredit the USSR before the whole world, undermine our prestige in the world community, return us to the era of the Cold War and the isolation of the Soviet Union. All this forces us to declare illegal the so-called committee (GKChP) that came to power. Accordingly, we declare illegal all the decisions and orders of this committee.” Decisive and precise actions of the Russian leadership destroyed the plans of the putschists. Relying on the support of the people and the army, B. N. Yeltsin managed to save the country from the consequences of a large-scale provocation that brought Russia to the brink of civil war.

August coup 1991. Boris Yeltsin addresses the people

On August 23, 1991, at the session of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, B.N. Yeltsin signed a decree on the dissolution of the Communist Party of the RSFSR, and on November 6 of the same year issued a decree on the termination of the activities of the structures of the CPSU and the Communist Party of the RSFSR on the territory of Russia and the nationalization of their property.

On November 15, 1991, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin headed the Russian government, which has gone down in history as the first reform government. After the formation of a new cabinet, he signed a package of ten presidential decrees and government orders that outlined concrete steps towards a market economy. In exercising his new powers, the President appointed Yegor Timurovich Gaidar as First Deputy Prime Minister responsible for developing a new economic concept for Russian reform.

On December 8, 1991, Boris Yeltsin, together with and signed the Belovezhskaya agreement of the heads of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine on the liquidation of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

At the end of the year, the President of Russia approved a decree on price liberalization effective January 2, 1992. In January 1992, a decree "On freedom of trade" was also signed.

In June 1992, Yeltsin terminated his powers as Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and assigned the duties of Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation to Yegor Gaidar. The Cabinet embarked on a decisive market reform and privatization of state property.

Photo: Alexey Sazonov / Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

Moscow. Forum of supporters of reforms. Boris Yeltsin and Yegor Gaidar. November 29, 1992

During 1992, the confrontation between the legislature and the executive power grew, which is often also called the "dual power crisis". Formally, it was based on contradictions in the constitutional system of Russia, but in fact it was dissatisfaction on the part of the parliament with the changes that President Yeltsin's team carried out.

December 10, 1992 B.N. Yeltsin addressed the citizens of Russia, in which he called the Congress of People's Deputies the main stronghold of conservatism, laying on it the main responsibility for the difficult situation in the country and accusing it of preparing a "creeping coup." The Supreme Council, the president emphasized, wants to have all the powers and rights, but does not want to bear responsibility.

March 20, 1993 B.N. Yeltsin signed a decree appointing April 25, 1993 a referendum on confidence in the President of the Russian Federation.

The All-Russian referendum took place at the appointed time. The Russians were asked the following questions:

• Do you trust the President of the Russian Federation B. Yeltsin?
• Do you approve of the social policy implemented by the President of the Russian Federation and
• Government of the Russian Federation since 1992?
• Do you consider it necessary to hold early elections of the President of the Russian Federation?
• Do you consider it necessary to hold early elections of people's deputies of the Russian Federation?

Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

There were 107 million citizens on the electoral lists. 64.5% of voters took part in the referendum. The main result of the referendum is support for the course pursued by President Yeltsin. However, the confrontation with Parliament was growing.

On September 21, 1993, the Decree "On a phased constitutional reform in the Russian Federation" (Decree No. 1400) was promulgated, which dissolved the Supreme Council and the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation. The President scheduled elections to the State Duma - the lower house of the Federal Assembly - for December 11-12, 1993. The Federation Council was declared the upper house of the Federal Assembly.

The Supreme Council assessed the Decree of the President as illegal and launched a campaign of resistance. An attempt was made to seize the Moscow mayor's office and the Ostankino television center.

The country was on the brink of civil war. As a result of decisive action by the presidential team and the support of democratic Muscovites, the crisis was resolved. However, during the October events, more than 150 people died on both sides, most of the dead were bystanders.

The adoption of the new Constitution and the elections on December 12, 1993 markedly improved the atmosphere in society and opened up the opportunity for all branches of government to focus on constructive work.

In February 1994, the president called on the government to strengthen the social orientation of the reforms. The president's consistent efforts led to the appearance in April 1994 of an important document - the "Public Accord Treaty", which became an instrument for consolidating power, the political elite and society in the interests of creating favorable conditions for the continuation of reforms.

Along with complex economic problems, the problems of federal relations came to the fore. In particular, the situation around the Chechen Republic developed dramatically. The negative consequences of her being outside the legal field of Russia under Dudayev's regime were obvious. At the end of 1994, the Russian leadership began armed operations on the territory of Chechnya - the first Chechen war began.

The development of a special operation in Chechnya into a military campaign, the difficulties of socio-economic development affected the results of the elections to the State Duma in December 1995, as a result of which the Communist Party doubled its representation. There was a real threat of communist revenge. In this situation, the presidential elections scheduled for June 1996, in which eight contenders applied for participation, acquired enormous significance. Surrounded by B.N. Yeltsin turned out to be people who persuaded him in this situation to postpone the elections. However, this plan was not supported by the president. The difficult election campaign of 1996 began.

The President carried out a decisive reorganization of the Cabinet of Ministers, which in January 1996 began to develop a new reform program.

In January-April 1996, the president signed a series of decrees aimed at the timely payment of salaries to public sector employees, compensation payments to pensioners, and increased scholarships for students and graduate students. Energetic steps were taken in solving the Chechen problem (from the development of a plan for a peaceful settlement to a scheme for the elimination of Dudayev and the cessation of military operations). The signing of agreements between Russia and Belarus, as well as between Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, demonstrated the seriousness of integration intentions in the post-Soviet space.

The President made 52 trips to various regions of the Russian Federation, including to intensify the conclusion of bilateral agreements between the federal center and the subjects of the federation.

The first round of elections did not bring victory to the president: his main opponent, the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, G.A., entered the second round along with him. Zyuganov. And only after the second round. Which took place on July 3, 1996 B.N. Yeltsin won with 53.8% of the vote (the candidate from the Communist Party received 40.3%).

The text of the speech at the inauguration of the President of the Russian Federation; the text of the oath of the President of the Russian Federation; cover note by L. Pihoy

Archive of the Presidential Center B.N. Yeltsin

The presidential marathon - 96 had a great impact on the socio-economic and political situation in Russia. The victory in the elections made it possible to remove social tensions and continue moving towards a market economy. The strengthening of the democratic foundations of the constitutional system was continued, the foundations of the legislative base for a market economy were laid, labor markets, goods, currency, and securities markets began to function. However, the situation in Chechnya remained difficult, where hostilities resumed after the presidential elections. In this regard, the president authorized the holding of talks in Khasavyurt on August 22 and 30, 1996, which ended with the signing of important documents. According to the agreements, the parties ceased hostilities, the federal troops were withdrawn from Chechnya, and the decision on the status of Chechnya was postponed until 2001.

However, the nervous overload experienced by B.N. Yeltsin all recent years, had a negative impact on his health. Doctors insisted on coronary artery bypass grafting - open heart surgery. Despite persuasion, B.N. Yeltsin decided to have the operation in Russia. The operating surgeon was Renat Akchurin, who was consulted by American cardiac surgeon Michael DeBakey. Yeltsin announced the upcoming operation on federal television and, for the time being, transferred power to Prime Minister V.S. Chernomyrdin. The operation was successful and after a short rehabilitation, the president returned to work.

Boris Yeltsin's popularity among the broad masses of the population began to grow from 1987, when he, being the Moscow City Party Committee, went into open conflict with the central leadership of the CPSU. The main criticism from Yeltsin was directed to M.S. Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee.

In 1990, Boris Yeltsin became a people's deputy of the RSFSR, and at the end of May of the same year he was elected chairman of the Supreme Council of the republic. A few days later there was a Declaration on the sovereignty of Russia. It is that the legislation of Russia takes precedence over the legislative acts of the USSR. In the country that was beginning to fall apart, the so-called “parade of sovereignties” began.

At the last 28th Congress in the history of the CPSU, Boris Yeltsin defiantly left the ranks of the Communist Party.

In February 1991, Boris Yeltsin, in his television speech, sharply criticized the policies of the top leadership of the Soviet Union. He demanded that Gorbachev resign and hand over the entirety to the Federation Council. A month later, a nationwide referendum was held in the USSR, the results of which were mixed. The vast majority of the country's population was in favor of preserving the Soviet Union while introducing presidential rule in Russia. This actually meant that dual power was beginning in the country.

First President of the Republic

On June 12, 1991, the first presidential elections in the RSFSR were held in the history of Russia. The victory in the first round was won by Boris Yeltsin, who went to the polls in tandem with Alexander Rutskoi, who eventually became vice president. And two months later, events unfolded in the country that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On August 19, 1991, several politicians from Mikhail Gorbachev's inner circle announced that a State Committee for the State of Emergency was being created in the country. Yeltsin immediately addressed the Russian people, calling the move an attempted coup d'état. In a few days of political confrontation, Yeltsin issued several decrees that expanded his presidential powers.

As a result, the first Russian president won an impressive victory, followed by the collapse of the USSR.

In subsequent years, many important political events took place in Russia, in which the first president of the republic was directly involved. In 1996, Yeltsin was re-elected to the highest state post in Russia. At the very end of 1999, Boris Yeltsin officially and voluntarily resigned his presidential powers, transferring power before the end of the presidency to his successor, who became V.V. Putin.