Boris Yeltsin

Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian SFSR in a direct popular election on June 12, 1991, winning 57% of the vote. This made him the first popularly elected leader in Russian history and gave him a democratic mandate separate from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

During the August 1991 coup attempt by hardline Communist Party members against Gorbachev, Yeltsin famously climbed onto a tank outside the Russian White House and called for resistance. His defiance rallied opposition to the coup, which collapsed within days, accelerating the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Yeltsin, along with leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, signed the Belavezha Accords on December 8, 1991, declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This effectively ended the USSR and created the Russian Federation as an independent state.

Yeltsin ordered the Russian army to shell the White House (parliament building) on October 4, 1993, to end a constitutional crisis where the Supreme Soviet had refused to accept his decrees. The attack killed hundreds and led to the adoption of a new constitution with strong presidential powers.

Yeltsin ordered Russian troops into Chechnya on December 11, 1994, to suppress the separatist government of Dzhokhar Dudayev. The war resulted in massive casualties, destruction of Grozny, and a humiliating Russian withdrawal in 1996, severely damaging Yeltsin's popularity and military reputation.

Yeltsin announced his resignation on December 31, 1999, in a televised address, appointing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as acting president. The resignation was unexpected and allowed Putin to consolidate power before the 2000 election, marking the end of Yeltsin's tumultuous decade in power.