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

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

Content: In August a peace with Chechnya was negotiated. Despite this astonishing political comeback, Yeltsin was a spent force. Later that year, he underwent an emergency heart bypass surgery that left him in hospital for months. Bouts of ill-health, a disastrous financial crisis in 1998 and hectic government reshuffles that followed took their toll. On New Year’s Eve 1999, Yeltsin surprised his country and the world by announcing his resignation, leaving the power in the hands of the little-known Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Often ill-at-ease with protocol, Yeltsin was remembered for his gaffes and off-hand jokes. Thought to have been a result of alcohol abuse, his antics attracted worldwide attention. Yeltsin famously grabbed a conductor’s baton in Berlin and tried to sing along with the orchestra. In another celebrated incident, he failed to emerge from his plane at Shannon Airport for talks with Ireland’s Prime Minister. After his resignation Yeltsin made few public appearances, making an exception only for tennis tournaments.