Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (Russian: Борис Николаевич Ельцин, IPA: [bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn] (About this soundlisten); 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the first President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1961 to 1990, he later stood as a political independent, during which time he was ideologically aligned with liberalism and Russian nationalism.