Boris Yeltsin was Russia's first post-Communist leader, serving as president from 1991 to 1999. Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born in Butka, Sverdlovsk, in 1931. An athletic youth, Yeltsin graduated from Ural Polytechnic Institute in 1955 with a degree in construction. He joined the Communist Party in 1961 and became the head of construction and engineering for the regional party committee in 1968. In 1976, Yeltsin became first secretary of the party's regional committee for Sverdlovsk. He developed a reputation as a reformer and caught the attention of Mikhail Gorbachev. When Gorbachev became premier in 1986, he believed Yeltsin could serve as an important ally in his efforts to modernize the Soviet Union and appointed him to the Politburo. However, Yeltsin not only attacked the hard-liners in the Kremlin but also criticized Gorbachev for not being more aggressive in his reform program. Yeltsin's behavior led to his dismissal from the Politburo in 1987.

Yeltsin became increasingly nationalistic and publicly advocated that Russia should break away from the Soviet Union. In 1989, Yeltsin was elected to the Soviet Parliament in the first semi-open elections in Soviet history. He was appointed to the Supreme Soviet and, in 1990, was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, commonly known as the parliament or Duma. Yeltsin grew enormously popular because he appealed to both reformers who were seeking to liberalize the Soviet Union and conservatives who supported Russian nationalism. In 1990, Yeltsin quit the Communist Party, while the Duma declared itself the sovereign political authority in Russia (although the declaration had little practical impact at the time).

Yeltsin became Gorbachev's main political rival. His power was bolstered in June 1991 when he was elected president of Russia with 57 percent of the vote (easily defeating Gorbachev's handpicked candidate). The election confirmed that Yeltsin had eclipsed Gorbachev as the leading force for reform. During the Soviet coup of 1991, Yeltsin led the anticoup elements, including the army, which suppressed the Communists. Within four months of the aborted coup, all 15 republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had declared independence. In December 1991, Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus announced the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a voluntary economic and political confederation of the former Soviet states. Russia took the seat of the USSR in the United Nations (UN), and Gorbachev resigned as Soviet premier, marking the official end of the USSR.

The administration of George H. W. Bush supported Yeltsin, who was perceived as more pro-Western and more interested in democratic and economic reforms than was Gorbachev. Bush and Yeltsin had a good working relationship, although Yeltsin was critical of the United States for not providing more assistance to help Russia transition to a market economy. Yeltsin and Bush cooperated on most security matters, including counterproliferation programs and arms control.

By 1991, Yeltsin was the recognized leader of the Russian Federation. However, Russia faced a number of internal problems, including a deteriorating economy and separatist movements. In 1992, Yeltsin initiated a broad reform program that resulted in high inflation. Meanwhile, former party officials were able to take control of state industries and property that was supposed to be privatized. Yeltsin's popularity rapidly eroded, and opponents in the Duma tried to impeach him. Yeltsin won a referendum in April 1993 and subsequently used the army to disband the Duma. He then introduced constitutional changes that bolstered the authority of the presidency. Subsequent elections gave Yeltsin a majority in the Duma, and he continued a moderate reform program. Russia received significant foreign aid during Yeltsin's tenure, including $40 billion from the International Monetary Fund. Nonetheless, Yeltsin faulted the West for not investing more in Russia and blamed many of the country's economic woes on the lack of aid and assistance from the West.

In 1994, he ordered Russian federal forces into Chechnya to quell a separatist rebellion. Russian forces initially suffered a series of defeats and responded with a brutal campaign against the rebels. A cease-fire was reached in 1996, but renewed fighting and terrorism continued. Yeltsin's relationship with President William J. Clinton was more uneasy than had been the case with Bush. Tensions with the United States and Western Europe accelerated over North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) involvement in the peacekeeping operation in the former Yugoslavia (a role opposed by Russia). Yeltsin also contested NATO enlargement in 1997, but agreed to the inclusion of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland in exchange for an alliance pledge to not station nuclear weapons on the soil of the former Soviet bloc states.

Yeltsin was reelected in a runoff in 1996 after failing to gain an absolute majority in the first round of voting. Relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated during Yeltsin's second term. The Clinton administration opposed a series of Russo-Iranian nuclear and military agreements, while Yeltsin protested U.S. strikes against Iraq following that country's refusal to allow UN weapons inspectors to resume inspections (Yeltsin even recalled Russia's ambassador to the United States). Yeltsin also endeavored unsuccessfully to block NATO military action during the Kosovo War in 1999.

Renewed fighting in Chechnya and health problems related to alcoholism undermined Yeltsin's domestic standing toward the end of his second term. He repeatedly dismissed cabinet members, including four prime ministers and in 1999 his entire cabinet. In May 1999, the Duma again tried to impeach Yeltsin. He appointed Vladimir Putin as prime minister and worked to ensure that Putin would succeed him. Yeltsin resigned in December 1999 after Putin granted him immunity. After leaving office, Yeltsin suffered from a variety of health problems.

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