Title: Boris Yeltsin – Russiapedia Leaders Prominent Russians
Headings: Prominent Russians:
Boris Yeltsin

Prominent Russians: Boris Yeltsin
February 1, 1931 – April 23, 2007

Content: The coup was effectively deflated and Gorbachev returned to Moscow but support had already swung over to Yeltsin. Things were spinning out of Gorbachev’s control. In November, Yeltsin signed a decree banning the Communist Party in Russia. In early December, Ukraine voted for independence from the Soviet Union. A week later, on December 8, 1991 Yeltsin held a secret meeting with the presidents of Ukraine and Belarus in the Belarusian Belovezh Forest. Their so-called Belavezha Accords declared the Soviet Union dissolved, replacing it with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Facing the inevitable, Gorbachev resigned on December 25, 1991. Two days later, Boris Yeltsin moved into Gorbachev’s former office, taking the reins of the new Russia. Yeltsin came to power on a wave of optimism, hailing a new era of democracy and economic freedom. Instead, the country plunged into chaos.