Boris Nikolayevich YELTSIN, Biography

BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH YELTSIN,

PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born to a peasant family in the village of Butka, Sverdlovsk Region, on February 1, 1931. His mother, Klavdia Vassilyevna, died at the age of 85, and his father, Nikolai Ignatyevich, at the age of 72.

Boris Yeltsin graduated from the construction department of the Urals Polytechnic as a civil engineer in 1955. Skilled in 12 various working professions, he consecutively worked as a foreman, project superintendent, senior project superintendent, chief engineer, and head of building organisations in the city of Sverdlovsk.

In 1968 he began his party career at the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU and became the first secretary of that committee in 1976.

A member of the CPSU Central Committee since 1981, he was appointed head of the construction department of the CPSU Central Committee in April 1985. From 1985 to 1986 he was a secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and an alternate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee from 1986 to February 1988. In 1985-1987 he headed the Moscow City Communist Party Committee.

In 1987-1989, he was first deputy chairman of the USSR State Construction Committee, a USSR Minister.

On March 25, 1989, Yeltsin was elected people's deputy of the USSR from the 1st national-territorial district of Moscow (his candidacy was supported by more than 5 million people and he won 88.4% of the vote). He became a member of the Supreme Soviet at the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. As a parliament member, Boris Yeltsin headed the parliamentary committee for construction and architecture.

In 1990 he was elected people's deputy of the RSFSR, and on May 29, 1990, he was elected chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet in a contested election at the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR.

He cancelled his party membership on July 12, 1990 at the 28th Congress of the CPSU.

Boris Yeltsin was elected first President of Russia in direct and open popular elections on June 12, 1991, winning more than 57% of the vote.

From November 1991 to May 1992 he combined the presidential office with that of chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation. In May 1992, he became Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. He has also chaired the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Council of Heads of the Republics of Russia since June 1992 and October 15, 1992, respectively.

In December 1993, he was elected 1994 chairman of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Boris Yeltsin authored the book Against the Grain" and Notes of a President".

His wife, Naina Iosifovna, nee Girina, graduated from the Urals Polytechnic as a civil engineer. The Yeltsins have two daughters - Yelena, b.1957, who graduated from the Urals Polytechnic, and Tatyana, b.1959, who finished Moscow State University's department of computational mathematics and cybernetics. Boris Yeltsin has three grandchildren Katya, Masha and Boris.

He loves to play tennis, and when young excelled at volleyball.

Source: Russian Information Agency "Novosti"

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