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Boris Yeltsin's rise and fall: The man who ended the USSR but birthed Putin's era

From defiant schoolboy to defiant president, Yeltsin broke the USSR but couldn't control the storm he unleashed. His resignation handed Russia to Putin—and changed history.

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2 min read
The image shows an old map of the city of Moscow, Russia, with text detailing the route of the...
The image shows an old map of the city of Moscow, Russia, with text detailing the route of the Russian Empire. The map is filled with intricate details, such as roads, cities, and other geographical features. The text is written in a classic font, giving the map a timeless quality.

Boris Yeltsin's rise and fall: The man who ended the USSR but birthed Putin's era

Boris Yeltsin rose from a harsh childhood to become Russia's first post-Soviet president. His leadership reshaped the nation, introducing democracy and a market economy after decades of communist rule. Yet his time in power also brought economic chaos and political instability—conditions that later paved the way for Vladimir Putin's authoritarian rule.

Yeltsin's early years were marked by struggle. Born into a family that endured barracks living, hunger, and hardship in the 1930s, he developed resilience from an early age. Even as a schoolboy, he defied authority, standing up for classmates against unfair treatment. Later, as a student, he organised gruelling multi-day river expeditions, showing natural leadership despite his own difficult circumstances.

His defining moment came in August 1991, when hardline communists attempted a coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. For three critical days, Yeltsin stood on a tank outside the Russian parliament, rallying resistance against the State Committee on the State of Emergency. The coup collapsed, and with it, the Soviet Union itself. Yeltsin had broken a system that had controlled Russia for over 70 years.

As president, he pushed through radical reforms: dismantling state controls, introducing elections, and opening the economy. But the transition was brutal. Hyperinflation wiped out savings, industries collapsed, and state institutions crumbled. By 1996, his approval rating had plunged to just 5%. Yet he ran again—determined to block a communist revival.

Health problems and political chaos weakened his grip. When he resigned on December 31, 1999, he handed power to an obscure former KGB officer: Vladimir Putin. Observers noted the change in Yeltsin immediately—his face relaxed, his burden lifted. He looked a decade younger.

Yeltsin's legacy remains contradictory. He dismantled Soviet repression and gave Russians new freedoms, but the instability of his era allowed a new kind of autocracy to take root. His resignation marked the end of a turbulent decade—and the beginning of Putin's long dominance.

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