Like any outstanding politician, Boris Nikolayevich will always have supporters and opponents, but today, in the framework of this biography, we will try to refrain from judgments and judgments and will only appeal with reliable facts. What kind of person was the first president of the Russian Federation? What was his life like before his political career? Our article today will help you find out the answers to these and many other questions.
Childhood and family
The official biography of Boris Yeltsin says that he was born in the maternity hospital of the village of Butka (Sverdlovsk region, Talitsky district). The very same family of Boris Nikolaevich lived nearby - in the village of Basmanovo. That is why in various sources, both one and the other toponym can be found as the birthplace of the future president. 
As for Boris Yeltsin's parents, they were both simple villagers. Father, Nikolai Ignatievich, worked in construction, but in the 30s he was repressed as a kulak element, serving his sentence on the Volga-Don. After the amnesty, he returned to his native village, where he started everything from scratch as a simple builder, then rose to the head of a construction plant. Mom, Claudia Vasilievna (nee Starygina), worked as a dressmaker for most of her life.
When Boris was not yet ten years old, the family moved to the city of Berezniki, not far from Perm. In the new school, he became the head of the class, but it was difficult to call him a particularly exemplary student. As Yeltsin's teachers noted, he was always a fighter and a fidget. Perhaps it was these qualities that led Boris Nikolaevich to the first serious problem in his life. During the boyish games, the guy picked up an unexploded German grenade in the grass and tried to take it apart. The consequence of the game was the loss of two fingers on the left hand.
Related to this fact is the fact that Yeltsin did not serve in the army. After school, he immediately entered the Ural Polytechnic Institute, where he mastered the specialty "civil engineer".
The absence of several fingers did not prevent Boris Nikolaevich from receiving the title of master of sports in volleyball as a student.
Political career
After graduating from high school in 1955, Boris Yeltsin went to work at the Sverdlovsk Construction Trust. Here he joined the CPSU, which allowed him to quickly advance in the service. 
As chief engineer, and then director of the Sverdlovsk house-building plant. Yeltsin attended district party congresses. In 1963, as part of one of the meetings, Yeltsin was enrolled as a member of the Kirov District Committee of the CPSU, and later - in the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU. In the party position, Boris Nikolaevich was mainly involved in supervising housing construction issues, but very soon Yeltsin's political career began to rapidly gain momentum.
In 1975, our today's hero was elected secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU, and a year later - the first secretary, that is, in fact, the main person of the Sverdlovsk region. His predecessor and patron described the young Yeltsin as a power-hungry and ambitious man, but added that he would “break into a cake, but he will complete any task.” Yeltsin served in this post for nine years.
During his leadership in the Sverdlovsk region, many issues related to food supply were successfully resolved. Coupons for milk and some other goods were abolished, new poultry farms and farms were opened. It was Yeltsin who launched the construction of the Sverdlovsk metro, as well as several cultural and sports complexes. Work in the party brought him the rank of colonel.
Yeltsin's speech at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU (1986)
After successful work in the Sverdlovsk region, Yeltsin was recommended to the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU for the post of first secretary. Having received the position, he began a personnel purge and initiated large-scale inspections, to the point that he himself traveled by public transport and inspected grocery warehouses.
On October 21, 1987, he sharply criticized the communist system at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU: he criticized the slow pace of perestroika, announced the formation of a personality cult of Mikhail Gorbachev, and asked not to include him in the Politburo. Under a flurry of counter criticism, he apologized, and on November 3 filed an application addressed to Gorbachev, asking him to keep him in office.
A week later, he was admitted to the hospital with a heart attack, but party colleagues believed he had attempted suicide. Two days later, he was already present at the meeting of the Plenum, where he was removed from the post of first secretary of the Moscow City Committee.
Yeltsin asks for political rehabilitation
In 1988 he was appointed deputy head of the Construction Committee.
On March 26, 1989, Yeltsin became a people's deputy in Moscow, receiving 91% of the votes. At the same time, his competitor was the protege of the government, Yevgeny Brakov, the head of ZIL. In May 1990, the politician headed the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR. "Political weight" to Yeltsin was added by the resonant signing of the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, which legally secured the priority of Russian laws over Soviet ones. On the day of its adoption, June 12, today we celebrate the Day of Russia.
At the XXVIII Congress of the CPSU in 1990, Yeltsin announced his resignation from the party. This congress was the last.
Yeltsin leaves the CPSU (1990)
On June 12, 1991, the non-partisan Yeltsin, with 57% of the vote and with the support of the Democratic Russia party, was elected president of the RSFSR. His competitors were Nikolai Ryzhkov (CPSU) Vladimir Zhirinovsky (LDPSS).
On December 8, 1991, after the isolation of the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and his actual removal from power, Boris Yeltsin, as the leader of the RSFSR, signed an agreement on the collapse of the USSR in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which was also signed by the leaders of Belarus and Ukraine. From that moment Boris Yeltsin became the leader of independent Russia.
Presidency
The collapse of the USSR provoked many problems, which Boris Yeltsin had to deal with. The first years of Russia's independence were marked by numerous problematic phenomena in the economy, a sharp impoverishment of the population, as well as the beginning of several bloody military conflicts in the Russian Federation and abroad. So, for a long time, Tatarstan declared its desire to secede from the Russian Federation, then the government of the Chechen Republic declared a similar desire.Interview with President Boris Yeltsin (1991)
In the first case, all topical issues were resolved peacefully, but in the second case, the unwillingness of the former Union Autonomous Republic to remain part of the Russian Federation laid the foundation for military operations in the Caucasus.
Due to multiple problems, Yeltsin's rating fell rapidly (to 3%), but in 1996 he still managed to remain in the presidency for a second term. He then competed with Grigory Yavlinsky, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Gennady Zyuganov. In the second round, Yeltsin "met" with Zyuganov and won with 53% of the vote.
Many crisis phenomena in the political and economic system of the country persisted in the future. Yeltsin was ill a lot and rarely appeared in public. He gave key positions in the government to those who supported his election campaign.
Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich (1931 - 2007) - Russian statesman and political figure, the first president of the Russian Federation, leader of the democratic movement in the late 1980s, leader of the resistance during the August putsch of 1991, initiator of the separation of the RSFSR from the USSR and the creation of a new Constitution.
Yeltsin is known primarily for his activities in the early 1990s of the 20th century, when he actively campaigned for the democratization of the country, the separation of the RSFSR from the USSR and the creation of a new type of state where the regions have greater independence. Yeltsin came to power during the August 1991 coup, when he stopped members of the State Emergency Committee and prevented them from coming to power. Later, he played a prominent role in the process of the collapse of the USSR and the formation of modern Russia. He is also the first president of the Russian Federation.
Short biography of Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born on February 1, 1931 in the Sverdlovsk region into a family of ordinary peasants. He studied well at school and after graduation he entered the Ural Polytechnic Institute, studied as an engineer. After graduation, he worked in various construction organizations until in 1963 he received the position of chief engineer at the Sverdlovsk house-building plant. Later he became its director.
Yeltsin's political career began with party activities in 1968. Since 1976, he has been the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee, since 1981 he has become a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. With the beginning of perestroika, Yeltsin's political career goes up, but this does not last long.
In 1985, he took the post of head of the construction department of the CPSU Central Committee and first secretary of the CPSU MGK, a year later he became a candidate for the CPSU Politburo. During his tenure as leader of the party, Yeltsin shows himself to be an ardent democrat who is ready to quite toughly defend his political ideals and not even criticize the first persons of the state. In support of this, in 1987 he seriously criticized the current political situation and personally the activities of Gorbachev, for which he was immediately expelled from the Politburo. However, Yeltsin's political career does not end there; until the end of the 1980s, he was in disgrace, but still continues to work.
Thanks to his desire to establish democracy in the USSR, Yeltsin eventually becomes the head of the democratic movement. In 1989, he was elected a people's deputy of the next Congress, and later he became a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In 1990, Yeltsin took the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.
Yeltsin's political activities before and after the collapse of the USSR
In 1990, Yeltsin tries to carry out several economic reforms that would help bring the country out of a deep crisis, but he encounters serious resistance from the leadership of the USSR. Relations between Yeltsin and Gorbachev only aggravate the situation and the RSFSR is increasingly talking about its desire to become an independent state.
In 1990, Yeltsin left the party and was elected president of the Russian Federation, thus declaring his opposition to the Union's policies. In 1991, the August coup rumbles, bringing Yeltsin to power. The Russian Federation and the CIS are being created, the USSR is disintegrating.
In 1992, Yeltsin again begins his work on reforming the state. He leads a series of political and economic reforms that should bring Russia out of the crisis and put it on the path to democracy, but the reforms do not bring the desired result. Dissatisfaction is growing within the government, there are constant disputes about the new Constitution, the reforms themselves and the future of the country. A conflict is brewing between the legislative and executive branches. In 1993, these events lead to the fact that an urgent council is convened, at which the question of confidence in the president and the Supreme Council is raised. As a result of the bloody events, known as the October putsch, Yeltsin remains in the presidency, but the Supreme Soviet and other councils are finally liquidated. The country continues the path begun by Yeltsin.
Despite the fact that Yeltsin still enjoys confidence, discontent within the country is growing, various radical groups are emerging. The situation is aggravated by a number of difficult decisions made by the president in the framework of foreign policy, in particular, the decision to start the Chechen war. Despite all the falling ratings, Yeltsin still decides to run for a second presidential term. Despite disagreements even in the ranks of his team, he is still elected to the post in the second round.
During the second term, the country plunges into another economic crisis, a default occurs, the authorities are increasingly dissatisfied with the president, and he is rapidly losing his health. In 1999, Yeltsin, after a certain leapfrog, appointed Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as acting prime minister, and at the end of this year announced his resignation, without waiting for the end of the presidential term.
The results of Yeltsin's rule
Yeltsin was directly involved in the process of separation of the RSFSR from the USSR with the current collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that he sought to create a democratic country, his decisions in domestic and foreign policy today are interpreted by historians ambiguously.
Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin. Born February 1, 1931 in Butka (Butkinsky district, Ural region) - died April 23, 2007 in Moscow. Soviet party and Russian politician and statesman, the first president of the Russian Federation (from July 10, 1991 to December 31, 1999). From November 6, 1991 to June 15, 1992, he headed the Government of the RSFSR.
Born in the village of Butka in the Ural Region (now in the Talitsky District of the Sverdlovsk Region) in a family of dispossessed peasants. So Yeltsin himself writes in his memoirs. But this disputes the village of Basmanovskoye, which may be Yeltsin's birthplace. According to the biographer of the first president, Boris Minaev, the Yeltsins really lived in the village of Basmanovo, which is located near the village of Butka, “but the “maternity hospital,” that is, the village hospital, was located in Butka,” where Boris Yeltsin was born.
Boris Yeltsin's father, Nikolai Yeltsin, a builder, was repressed. He served his sentence on the construction of the Volga-Don Canal, after his release in 1937 he worked as a foreman at the construction site of a chemical plant in Berezniki, and a few years later became the head of the construction department at the plant.
B. Yeltsin's mother - Claudia Starygina from the peasants, a dressmaker.
Yeltsin spent his childhood in the city of Berezniki, Perm Region, where he graduated from school (modern school No. 1 named after A. S. Pushkin). According to Yeltsin's biography and media reports, he did well in his studies, was the head of the class, but had complaints about his behavior, was pugnacious. After graduating from the seventh grade, Yeltsin spoke out against the class teacher, who beat the children and forced them to work at her home. For this, he was expelled from school with a “wolf ticket”, but, by contacting the city committee of the party, he managed to get the opportunity to continue his studies at another school.
Yeltsin's left hand was missing two fingers and a third phalanx. According to Yeltsin, he lost them during the explosion of a grenade, which he tried to open.
In 1950 he entered the Ural Polytechnic Institute. S. M. Kirov at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, in 1955 he graduated from it with the qualification of "engineer-builder" with a degree in "Industrial and civil construction". Theme of the thesis: "Television tower". In his student years, he was seriously involved in volleyball, played for the city's national team, and became a master of sports.
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, head of the site. In 1957, he became a foreman in the construction department of the trust. In 1961 he joined the CPSU. In 1963 he was appointed chief engineer of the Sverdlovsk house-building plant. Since 1966 - director of the Sverdlovsk DSK.
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.
By order of Yeltsin, a twenty-three-story, tallest building in the city of the regional committee of the CPSU was built in Sverdlovsk, which received the nicknames "White House", "Wisdom Tooth" and "Party Member" in the city.
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 Ipatievs' house (the place of execution of the royal family in 1918), which was not carried out by his predecessor Ya. Significantly improved the supply of food to the Sverdlovsk region, intensified the construction of poultry farms and farms. Under Yeltsin's leadership, milk coupons were abolished.
In 1980, he actively supported the initiative to create the MZhK, and the construction of experimental settlements in the villages of Baltym and Patrushi. The Baltym cultural and sports complex became a source of pride, the building of which was recognized as "unparalleled in construction practice." Being at party work in Sverdlovsk, Boris Yeltsin received the military rank of colonel.
In 1978-1989 - Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (member of the Council of the Union). From 1984 to 1988 - 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 was a member of it until he left the party in 1990.
After the Eighth Congress of People's Deputies, at which the resolution on the stabilization of the constitutional order was canceled and decisions were made that undermined the independence of the government and the Central Bank, on March 20, 1993, Yeltsin, speaking on television with an appeal to the people, announced that he had signed a decree on the introduction of " special management regime. The next day, the Supreme Council appealed to the Constitutional Court, calling Yeltsin's appeal "an attack on the constitutional foundations of Russian statehood." The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, not yet having a signed decree, recognized Yeltsin's actions related to the televised address as unconstitutional, and saw grounds for removing him from office. The Supreme Soviet convened the IX (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies. However, as it turned out a few days later, in fact, another decree was signed that did not contain gross violations of the Constitution. On March 28, the Congress attempted to remove Yeltsin from the presidency. Speaking at a rally on Vasilyevsky Spusk in Moscow, Yeltsin vowed not to carry out the decision of the Congress, if it is nevertheless adopted. However, only 617 deputies out of 1033 voted for impeachment, with the required 689 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 vote, while 53.0% voted for economic reforms. On the issues of early elections of the president and people's deputies, 49.5% and 67.2% of those who took part in the voting voted "for", respectively, however, no legally significant decisions were made on these issues (because, according to the laws in force, for this " more than half of all eligible voters had to vote in favour). The controversial results of the referendum were interpreted by Yeltsin and his entourage in their favor.
After the referendum, Yeltsin focused his efforts on drafting and adopting a new constitution. On April 30, the presidential draft 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 1 he was temporarily removed from office on suspicion in corruption, which was not subsequently confirmed.
On the evening of September 21, 1993, Boris Yeltsin, in a televised address to the people, announced that he had signed Decree No. 1400 "On the gradual constitutional reform in the Russian Federation" ordering to terminate the activities of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council, and to schedule elections for December 11-12 to a new representative body of power, the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which is being created. The Constitutional Court, which met on the night of September 21-22, found in the decree a violation of a number of articles of the Constitution in force at that time, and established the existence of grounds for removing the president from office. The Supreme Council, on the basis of Articles 121. 6 and 121. 11 of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Federation - Russia (RSFSR), adopted resolutions on the termination of the powers of President Yeltsin from 20:00 on September 21, 1993 after the signing of Decree No. 1400, and on their transfer to Vice President Alexander Rutskoi. However, Boris Yeltsin de facto continued to exercise the powers of the President of Russia.
On September 22, by order of Yeltsin, the building of the Supreme Council was blocked by the police and disconnected from water and electricity. Thus, the deputies found themselves in a state of siege.
The Supreme Soviet announced the convening of the 10th (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies on September 22. According to the speaker of the Supreme Council Ruslan Khasbulatov, those executive authorities that obeyed Yeltsin detained deputies from the regions and prevented their arrival in other ways. In reality, the Congress was able to open only on the evening of September 23. Yeltsin's supporters argue that the quorum, which required 689 deputies, was not reached at the Congress. According to the leadership of the Armed Forces, 639 deputies were present, the presidential side spoke only about 493. Then it was decided to deprive those who did not come to the White House of deputy status, after which a quorum was announced. According to other data, 689 people arrived at the congress. The congress approved the resolution of the Parliament on the termination of the powers of President Yeltsin.
On September 24, at a meeting of the X Extraordinary (Extraordinary) Congress of People's Deputies, Resolution No. 5807-1 "On the political situation in the Russian Federation" was adopted. In it, the actions of former President Yeltsin were assessed as a coup d'état, all legal acts signed by him from 20:00 on September 21 were declared illegal, and the most dismissed president was asked "not to aggravate his guilt before the people and the law and voluntarily stop his unconstitutional actions" .
The Congress of People's Deputies, at the proposal of the regions and Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Zorkin, adopted a resolution "On early elections of people's deputies of the Russian Federation and the President of the Russian Federation", in which it decided, in particular, to hold these elections no later than March 1994, subject to the normal constitutional activity of the bodies representative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as ensuring pluralism of opinions in the media. The Supreme Council was instructed to prepare the relevant normative acts within a month to ensure the holding of simultaneous early elections. Also, the parliament itself had to set the date for the elections.
On September 27, in an interview with the Ostankino television company, Yeltsin said that he would not go against the simultaneous early elections of the president and people's deputies and would not make any compromises with any authorities.
The confrontation between Yeltsin, his loyal law enforcement forces and supporters of the Supreme Soviet escalated into armed clashes. On October 3, Yeltsin declared a state of emergency. Supporters of the Supreme Council stormed one of the buildings of the Moscow City Hall on Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment (the former building of the CMEA), from where the soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs fired on the demonstrators who approached the parliament building. Then the supporters of the Supreme Council, headed by Albert Makashov, went to the Ostankino television center in order to provide them with air. For reasons not yet fully clarified, the fighters of the pro-government Vityaz detachment, who were in the building of the television center, opened fire on supporters of the parliament. Yeltsin, at the suggestion of Gennady Zakharov, Deputy Head of the Security Service of the President of the Russian Federation, ordered the storming of the building of the Supreme Council with the use of tanks. In the early morning of October 4, troops were brought into Moscow, followed by the shelling of the House of Soviets from tanks, and after 17 hours, the surrender of its defenders. In the course of these events, according to the investigation, 123 people died on both sides, 384 were injured, and not a single people's deputy of Russia was among the dead. One of the deputies (Yuri Elshin), who assisted the wounded, was slightly injured. Some people's deputies and employees of the apparatus of the Supreme Council, after leaving the burning parliament building, were beaten by police officers.
On October 6, 1993, the Vesti program of the RTR television channel announced the removal of 36 corpses from the White House.
On October 7, 3 days after the storming of the House of Soviets, a press conference was held at the Ministry of Internal Affairs by the commander of the internal troops Anatoly Kulikov and Minister of the Interior Viktor Yerin, who was relieved of his post by Rutsky. During this press conference, journalists were told that 49 corpses had been removed from the building of the Supreme Council. On the morning of the same day, the investigation team of the Prosecutor General's Office was admitted to the House of Soviets. However, the investigators did not find any bodies there (by that time they had already been taken out) and therefore the materials of the investigation do not say anything about the dead in the parliament building. The information that there were dead inside the House of Soviets is confirmed by the letter of the Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Eduard Nechaev addressed to Viktor Chernomyrdin No. identification of the dead from the House of Soviets”, as well as the confession of the commandant of the captured parliament building, Lieutenant-General Arkady Baskaev, that in the period from 18:00 on October 4, 1993, “20-25 wounded and killed were taken out by ambulance teams from the building” .
After the dissolution of the Congress and Parliament, Yeltsin for some time concentrated all power in his hands and makes a number of decisions: on the resignation of Rutskoy from the post of vice president (according to Article 121.10 of the current Constitution, the vice president could only be removed from office by the Congress of People's Deputies on the basis of the conclusion of the Constitutional Court), on the suspension of the activities of the Constitutional Court, on the termination of the activities of Councils of all levels and the change in the system of local self-government, on the appointment of elections to the Federation Council and the popular vote, as well as by its decrees cancels and changes a number of provisions of existing laws.
In this regard, some well-known lawyers (including the chairman of the Constitutional Court, Doctor of Law Prof. Valery Zorkin), statesmen, political scientists, politicians, journalists (primarily from among Yeltsin's political opponents) noted that a dictatorship had been established in the country.
In February 1994, the participants in the events were released in accordance with the decree of the State Duma on amnesty(all of them, except Rutskoy, agreed to an amnesty, although they were not convicted). Yeltsin demanded that the amnesty be prevented. The report of the State Duma commission for additional study and analysis of the events of September 21 - October 5, 1993, with reference to the former member of the presidential council, appointed on October 5 by Yeltsin to the post of Prosecutor General Alexei Kazannik, states that Yeltsin and his entourage offered Kazannik to judge Rutskoi, Khasbulatov and other persons who opposed the dispersal of the Congress and the Supreme Council, under Art. 102 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (Deliberate murder under aggravated circumstances), which provided for the death penalty. Kazannik responded by telling Yeltsin that there were no legal grounds for applying this article. Rutskoy confirms this fact in his memoirs.
According to one of the defenders of the White House, People's Deputy of Russia Ilya Konstantinov: “Yeltsin's unspoken order to eliminate opposition leaders existed, and this is not a myth. Yeltsin wanted, but could not, finish off the opposition, because the performers did not want to take on extra blood. Korzhakov writes about the same thing, that he did not want to kill anyone. If Boris Nikolaevich had the opportunity, knowing his temper, we can assume that he would have dealt with many. As early as October 4, an oral order was given to liquidate about a dozen people, including me.
In September 1995, criminal case No. 18/123669-93 on the events of October 3-4, 1993 was terminated. According to the former head of the investigation group, Leonid Proshkin, the amnesty that closed this criminal case suited everyone because, contrary to the will of the leadership, the investigators of the Prosecutor General's Office investigated the actions of not only supporters of the Supreme Council, but also the troops who were on the side of Yeltsin, who are largely guilty of the current situation and the grave consequences of the incident. Proshkin also said that the Yeltsin administration put pressure on the Prosecutor General's Office, hiding evidence from investigators.
From a legal point of view, the events of October 1993 contradicted the Constitution in force at that time.
On December 12, 1993, elections were held to the Federation Council and the State Duma, as well as a nationwide referendum on the adoption of a draft new Constitution. On December 20, the CEC of Russia announced the results of the referendum: 32.9 million voters (58.4% of active voters) voted in favor, 23.4 million (41.6% of active voters) voted against. The Constitution was adopted because, in accordance with the decree of President Yeltsin dated October 15, 1993 No. 1633 “On holding a popular vote on the draft Constitution of the Russian Federation”, an absolute majority of votes is required for the entry into force of the new Constitution. Subsequently, there were attempts to challenge the results of this vote in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, but the Court refused to consider the case.
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 Rossiyskaya Gazeta, entered into force. On January 11, 1994, both chambers of the Federal Assembly began their work, the constitutional crisis ended.
In early 1994, 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.
On November 30, 1994, B.N. Yeltsin decided to send troops into Chechnya and signed a secret decree No. 2137 "On measures to restore constitutional law and order on the territory of the Chechen Republic", the Chechen conflict began.
On December 11, 1994, on the basis of Yeltsin's decree "On measures to suppress the activities of illegal armed groups on the territory of the Chechen Republic and in the zone of the Ossetian-Ingush conflict", the entry of troops into Chechnya began. Many ill-conceived actions led to great casualties among both the military and the civilian population: tens of thousands of people died and hundreds of thousands were injured. It often happened that during a military operation or shortly before it, an order to stand down came from Moscow. This gave the Chechen fighters an opportunity to regroup their forces. The first assault on Grozny was ill-conceived and led to heavy casualties: more than 1,500 people died or went missing, 100 Russian servicemen were captured.
In June 1995, during the capture of a hospital and a maternity hospital in Budyonnovsk by a detachment of militants led by Sh. Basayev, Yeltsin was in Canada, and decided not to stop the trip, giving Chernomyrdin the opportunity to resolve the situation and negotiate with the militants, he returned only after the completion of all events , dismissed the heads of a number of law enforcement agencies and the governor of the Stavropol Territory. In 1995, in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the legality of Decrees No. 2137 and No. 1833 (“On the Basic Provisions of the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation” in the part relating to the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in resolving internal conflicts) was challenged by a group of deputies of the State Duma and the Federation Council. According to the Federation Council, the acts contested by it constituted a single system and led to the unlawful use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, since their use on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as other measures prescribed in these acts, are legally possible only within the framework of a state of emergency or martial law. The request emphasizes that the result of these measures were illegal restrictions and massive violations of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens. According to a group of deputies of the State Duma, the use of the acts disputed by them on the territory of the Chechen Republic, which caused significant casualties among the civilian population, is contrary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and international obligations assumed by the Russian Federation. The Constitutional Court terminated the proceedings on the case on the compliance of Decree No. 2137 with the Constitution of the Russian Federation without consideration on the merits, since this document was declared invalid on December 11, 1994.
In August 1996, Chechen fighters drove federal troops out of Grozny. After that they signed Khasavyurt agreements which are seen by many as treacherous.
By the beginning of 1996, Yeltsin, due to the failures and mistakes of economic reform and the war in Chechnya, had lost his former popularity, and his rating had fallen sharply (to 3%); nevertheless, he decided to run for a second term, which he announced on February 15 in Yekaterinburg (although he had previously repeatedly assured that he would not run for a second term).
The main opponent of Yeltsin was considered the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady 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 travel around the country with speeches, visited many regions, including Chechnya. Yeltsin's election headquarters launched an active agitation and advertising campaign under the slogan "Vote or Lose", after which the gap in the rating between Zyuganov and Yeltsin began to rapidly shrink.
Shortly before the elections, a number of populist legislative acts were adopted (for example, Yeltsin's decree on the abolition of conscription into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 2000; soon this decree was changed by Yeltsin in such a way that references to the transition to a contract basis and the timing of the transition disappeared from it ). On May 28, Yeltsin and Viktor Chernomyrdin held talks with a Chechen delegation led by Zelimkhan 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. On June 9, Yeltsin announced that he had heirs in mind for the year 2000, who were "growing rapidly."
A number of journalists, political scientists and historians (including Vyacheslav Nikonov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, who at that time was deputy chairman of the All-Russian Movement to Support B. N. Yeltsin and headed the press center of Yeltsin's campaign headquarters) believe that the 1996 campaign of the year cannot be called democratic elections, due to the widespread use of “administrative resources” (“in full program” - V. Nikonov), Yeltsin’s campaign headquarters repeatedly exceeding the established limit on funds spent, falsifications, and also due to the fact that almost all The media, with the exception of a few small-circulation communist newspapers, were openly supportive of Yeltsin.
According to the results of the first round of voting on June 16, 1996, Yeltsin won 35.28% of the vote and entered the second round of elections, ahead of Zyuganov, who received 32.03%. Alexander Lebed received 14.52%, and after the first round, 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, Yeltsin received 53.82% of the vote, confidently ahead of Zyuganov, who received only 40.31%.
According to Sergei Baburin, the fact of falsification of the election results was recognized by the President of the Russian Federation in 2008-2012, Dmitry Medvedev, who, during a meeting with representatives of unregistered parties on February 20, 2012, said: “It is unlikely that anyone has any doubts about who won the 1996 presidential election. It was not Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. The presidential administration said that Medvedev did not say anything of the sort.
Between the first and second rounds of voting, Yeltsin was hospitalized with a heart attack, but managed to hide this fact from voters. He was not shown in public, but television showed several videos of Yeltsin's meetings filmed a few months earlier, but not aired before, which were intended to demonstrate his "high vitality." On July 3, Yeltsin appeared at the polling station of the sanatorium in Barvikha. Yeltsin refused to vote at his place of residence on Osennaya Street in Moscow, fearing that he would not be able to withstand a long passage along the street, stairs and corridor of this site.
In August 1996, he sanctioned the Khasavyurt agreements, in October he decided to dismiss A.I. Lebed from all posts. On November 5, 1996, Yeltsin underwent coronary artery bypass surgery, during which V. S. Chernomyrdin acted as President. B. N. Yeltsin returned to work only at the beginning 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 nominated S. V. Kiriyenko. After the economic crisis of August 1998, when, two days after Yeltsin's decisive statement on television that there would be no devaluation of the ruble, the ruble was devalued and depreciated by 4 times, dismissed the Kiriyenko government and offered to return Chernomyrdin. On August 21, 1998, at a meeting of the State Duma, the majority of deputies (248 out of 450) called on Yeltsin to voluntarily resign, only 32 deputies supported him. In September 1998, with the consent of the State Duma, Boris Yeltsin appointed E. M. Primakov to the post of Prime Minister.
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. Stepashin Chairman of the Government, but in August dismissed him too, submitting a candidacy little known at that time for approval, and announced him as 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 soared, and in late 1999 Yeltsin resigned, leaving Putin as acting head of state.
December 31, 1999 at 12 noon Moscow time (which was repeated on the main TV channels a few minutes before midnight, before the New Year's TV address), B. N. Yeltsin announced his resignation from the post of President of the Russian Federation:
Dear friends! My dears! Today is the last time I address you with New Year's greetings. But that's not all. Today I address you for the last time as President of Russia. I made a decision. I thought long and hard about it. Today, on the last day of the outgoing century, I retire.
Yeltsin explained that he was leaving “not for health reasons, but for the totality of all problems,” and asked for forgiveness from the citizens of Russia.
“Having finished reading the last sentence, he sat motionless for several more minutes, and tears flowed down his face,” recalls cameraman A. Makarov.
Prime Minister V. V. Putin was appointed acting president, and immediately after B. N. Yeltsin announced his own resignation, he addressed the citizens of Russia with a New Year's address. On the same day, Vladimir Putin signed a decree guaranteeing Yeltsin protection from prosecution, as well as significant material benefits for him and his family.
Boris Yeltsin died on April 23, 2007 at 15:45 Moscow time in the Central Clinical Hospital as a result of cardiac arrest caused by progressive cardiovascular and then multiple organ failure, that is, dysfunction of many internal organs caused by a disease of the cardiovascular system - Sergey Mironov, head of the Medical Center of the Administration of the President of Russia, said in an interview with RIA Novosti. At the same time, in the news television program Vesti, he announced another cause of death for the ex-president: “Yeltsin suffered a rather pronounced catarrhal-viral infection (cold), which hit all organs and systems very hard,” Yeltsin was hospitalized 12 days before his death. However, according to cardiac surgeon Renat Akchurin, who performed the operation on the ex-president, Yeltsin's death "foreshadowed nothing." At the request of Boris Yeltsin's relatives, no autopsy was performed.
B. N. Yeltsin was buried in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was open all night from 24 to 25 April, so that everyone could say goodbye to the ex-president of Russia. “Someday history will give the deceased an impartial assessment,” said Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, who did not participate in the funeral service. There is an opinion that the funeral service did not take place completely according to church canons - the funeral rite should include the words "servant of God", but Yeltsin was buried as "the newly deceased first president of Russia Boris Nikolaevich."
Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was born on February 1, 1931 in the village of Butka (accent on the last syllable) of the Talitsky district of the Sverdlovsk region. Father - Nikolai Ignatievich, builder, mother - Claudia Vasilievna, dressmaker. During the period of collectivization, Boris N. Yeltsin's grandfather was exiled, his father and uncle were also subjected to illegal repressions (both went through a forced labor camp).
Confession on a given topic
“... The Yeltsin family, as it is written in the description that our village council sent to the Chekists in Kazan, rented land in the amount of five hectares. “Before the revolution, his father’s farm was a kulak one, had a water mill and a windmill, had a threshing machine, had permanent farm laborers, had up to 12 hectares of sowing, had a self-harvester, had up to five horses, up to four cows...”. He had, he had, he had ... That was his fault - he worked hard, took on a lot. And the Soviet government loved modest, inconspicuous, low-profile. She did not like and did not spare strong, intelligent, bright people. In the thirtieth year, the family was “evicted”. Grandfather was disenfranchised. Overlaid with individual agricultural tax. In a word, they put a bayonet to the throat, as they knew how to do it. And grandfather "went on the run" ... "
In 1935, the family moved to the Perm region to build the Berezniki potash plant. In Berezniki, the future first President of the Russian Federation studied at the secondary school. A. S. Pushkin. After graduating from the seventh grade, Yeltsin spoke out against the class teacher, who beat the children and forced them to work at her home. For this, he was expelled from school with a "wolf ticket", but, by contacting the city committee of the party, he managed to get the opportunity to continue his studies at another school.
After successfully graduating from school, B. N. Yeltsin continued his education at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. S. M. Kirov (later Ural State Technical University - USTU-UPI, Ural State Technical University - USTU-UPI named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, now - Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin) Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) with a degree in Industrial and Civil Engineering. At the UPI, B.N. Yeltsin clearly showed himself not only in studies, but also in the sports field: he played at the national volleyball championship for the team of masters, coached the women's volleyball team of the institute.
During his studies, he met his future wife Naina (Anastasia) Iosifovna Girina. In 1955, having defended their diplomas at the same time, the young people parted for some time to the destinations of young specialists, but agreed to meet in a year. This meeting took place in Kuibyshev at zonal volleyball competitions: Boris Nikolaevich took the bride to Sverdlovsk, where the wedding took place.
In 1961, Yeltsin joined the CPSU. In 1968 he was transferred from economic to professional party work - he headed the construction department of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party Committee.
In 1975, at the plenum of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, Yeltsin was elected secretary of the regional committee responsible for the industrial development of the region, and on November 2, 1976, he was appointed first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU (he held this position until 1985). Shortly thereafter, Boris N. Yeltsin was elected a deputy of the regional Council for the Serov constituency.
In 1978-1989 he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (member of the Council of the Union). In 1981, at the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. 1985 promoted B. N. Yeltsin very high up the career ladder. After M. S. Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in March 1985, Boris Yeltsin was asked to head the construction department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and soon Yeltsin was appointed secretary of the Central Committee of the Party for construction. In December 1985, Gorbachev invited Yeltsin to head the Moscow party organization.
Notes of the President
In his book, Boris Nikolaevich recalled:
“But in August 1991 there was a coup. This event shocked the country, and, apparently, the whole world. On August 19 we were in one country, and on August 21 we ended up in a completely different one. Three days have become a watershed between the past and the future. Events forced me to take a tape recorder, sit down at a blank sheet of paper and start working, as it seemed to me, on a book about the putsch.
It can be said that it was from this appointment that B. N. Yeltsin entered big-time politics. The political fate of the future first President of Russia was not stable. After the events of 1987, many believed that Yeltsin would never be able to return to big politics, but he began to do big politics, and not only on a national scale, but on a global scale.
June 12, 1991 Yeltsin was elected president of the RSFSR. These were the first nationwide presidential elections in the history of Russia (USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev took office as a result of voting at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR).
On July 10, Boris Yeltsin took an oath of allegiance to the people of Russia and the Russian Constitution and took office as President of the RSFSR, delivering a keynote speech:
It is impossible to put into words the state of mind that I am experiencing at this moment. For the first time in the thousand-year history of Russia, the President solemnly swears allegiance to his fellow citizens. There is no higher honor than that which is given to a person by the people, there is no higher position to which the citizens of the state elect.<...>I am optimistic about the future and ready for vigorous action. Great Russia rises from its knees! We will definitely turn it into a prosperous, democratic, peace-loving, legal and sovereign state. The hard work for all of us has already begun. Having gone through so many trials, having a clear idea of our goals, we can be firmly convinced that Russia will be reborn!
Fragment of the exposition of the UrFU Museum and Exhibition Complex dedicated to Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin
The First President of Russia was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st Class, the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of Gorchakov (the highest award of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), the Order of the Royal Order of Peace and Justice (UNESCO) , medals "Shield of Freedom" and "For Selflessness and Courage" (USA), the Order of the Knight of the Grand Cross (the highest state award in Italy) and many others. He is the author of three books: "Confession on a given topic" (1989), "Notes of the President" (1994) and "Presidential Marathon" (2000). He was fond of hunting, sports, music, literature, cinema. B. N. Yeltsin has a large family: wife Naina Iosifovna, daughters Elena and Tatyana, grandchildren - Katya, Masha, Boris, Gleb, Ivan and Maria, great-grandchildren Alexander and Mikhail.
In 2002, the Foundation of the First President of Russia established the B. N. Yeltsin scholarship, which has been awarded annually since 2003.
The scholarship is awarded annually from September 1 to students and graduate students of the Ural Federal University who have shown particular success in their studies, scientific research, sports and creative activities.
The 50 best full-time students of USTU-UPI, who passed the competition, initially became scholarship holders. Along with excellent studies, scholarship holders must demonstrate the results of scientific and practical work, actively participate in public life. In the early years, Boris Nikolayevich personally congratulated the scholarship holders, now his wife Naina Iosifovna Yeltsina and the rector of the university present certificates. In 2010, the number of scholarships was increased from 50 to 90.
UrFU Rector Viktor Koksharov notes: “Today it is already impossible to imagine that once a year Tatyana Borisovna and Naina Iosifovna would not come to us, so that they would not award personal scholarships to the best of our best students and graduate students. This has already entered the history of the university and has become its inseparable part.”
After the death of Boris Nikolaevich, the leadership of the Ural State Technical University proposed to give the university his name. The initiative was supported by the government of the Sverdlovsk region, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and the government of the country. The president's widow, Naina Yeltsina, also approved it, but noted: "during his lifetime, he would never have agreed to such an initiative - it was expressed more than once and was rejected more than once."
In April 2008, the university was named after the first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, and a commemorative plate appeared on the facade of the main academic building.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev He was elected President of the USSR on March 15, 1990 at the Third Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.
On December 25, 1991, in connection with the termination of the existence of the USSR as a state entity, M.S. Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President and signed a Decree on the transfer of control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Yeltsin.
On December 25, after Gorbachev's resignation, the red state flag of the USSR was lowered in the Kremlin and the flag of the RSFSR was raised. The first and last President of the USSR left the Kremlin forever.
The first president of Russia, then still the RSFSR, Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin was elected on June 12, 1991 by popular vote. B.N. Yeltsin won in the first round (57.3% of the vote).
In connection with the expiration of the term of office of the President of Russia, Boris N. Yeltsin, and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the election of the President of Russia was scheduled for June 16, 1996. It was the only presidential election in Russia where it took two rounds to determine the winner. The elections were held on June 16 - July 3 and were distinguished by the sharpness of the competitive struggle between the candidates. The main competitors were the current President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin and the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation G. A. Zyuganov. According to the election results, B.N. Yeltsin received 40.2 million votes (53.82 percent), well ahead of G. A. Zyuganov, who received 30.1 million votes (40.31 percent). 3.6 million Russians (4.82%) voted against both candidates .
December 31, 1999 at 12:00 Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin voluntarily ceased to exercise the powers of the President of the Russian Federation and transferred the powers of the President to Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. On April 5, 2000, the first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, was presented with certificates of a pensioner and labor veteran.
December 31, 1999 Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin became acting president.
In accordance with the Constitution, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation has set March 26, 2000 as the date for the early presidential elections.
On March 26, 2000, 68.74 percent of the voters included in the voting lists, or 75,181,071 people, took part in the elections. Vladimir Putin received 39,740,434 votes, which amounted to 52.94 percent, that is, more than half of the votes. On April 5, 2000, the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation decided to recognize the elections of the President of the Russian Federation as valid and valid, to consider Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin elected to the post of President of Russia.
