Title: Boris Yeltsin: Russian Federation's First President
Headings: Boris Yeltsin: First President of the Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin: First President of the Russian Federation
Boris Yeltsin Fast Facts
Early and Personal Life
Political Career
First Term
Second Term and Resignation
Death and Legacy
Sources

Content: This position also allowed him to become a member of the Politburo, the policy-making branch of the Communist Party. On September 10th, 1987, Boris Yeltsin became the first-ever Politburo member to resign. That October during a meeting of the Central Committee, Yeltsin laid out six points from his resignation that no one had previously addressed, emphasizing the ways in which Gorbachev and previous general secretaries had failed. Yeltsin believed that the government was reforming too slowly as the economy had still not turned around, and was, in fact, getting worse in many regions. After leaving the Politburo, he was elected to the Congress People’s Deputy representing Moscow, then to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, which were institutions within the government of the Soviet Union, not the Communist Party. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the resignation of Gorbachev, Yeltsin was elected as the first president of the Russian Federation on June 12, 1991. First Term
In his first term, Yeltsin began to shift the Russian Federation to a market economy, defying the economic and social system that defined the Soviet Union during the decades prior. He lifted price controls and embraced capitalism. However, prices rose substantially and brought the new nation into an even deeper depression. Later in his term, Yeltsin worked toward nuclear disarmament by signing the START II treaty with George H. W. Bush on January 3, 1993.