Boris Yeltsin (1931 - 2007)

It was announced today that former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died. He leaves as his mark on history his leadership of Russia (a land which historically knew no other form of government beyond totalitarianism) as its first democratically-elected leader ever.

Born in Russia in 1931, Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party but left it in 1990. An associate of Mikhail Gorbachev, he rose through the government, and in 1990 he was elected president by the Russian Parliament; the following year, on December 25, 1991, a few months after Yeltsin put down an attempted coup d'etat against Gorbachev, Gorbachev resigned, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics officially ceased to be.

Yeltsin's presidential years were characterized by constant conflict between Yeltsin and the Russian legislature. Two issues plagued his presidency: unsuccessful attempts to convert Russia's economy from the Soviet system to a free market economy, and the problem in Chechnya. In response to the latter Yeltsin sent in Russia's military in 1994, agreed to an uneasy peace in 1997, and resumed conflict in 1999. That same year, Yeltsin resigned the presidency, having been elected to a second term in 1996 despite the heavy criticisms he received for the aforementioned political and economic issues.

Boris Yeltsin died on April 23, 2007.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica; CNN.com