Boris Yeltsin: The man on the tank who dared to dismantle the Soviet empire and handed power to Putin

With Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting India this week, we take a look back at a leader who shaped modern Russia.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin wasn’t just Russia’s first president. He was the larger-than-life figure at the heart of a historic turning point, tearing down the Soviet system while trying to guide Russia into its new, messy experiment with democracy and a market economy.

His eight-year tenure, from 1991 to 1999, was defined by historic leaps for freedom and devastating economic and political turmoil, leaving behind a legacy as complicated and contradictory as the nation he governed.

From communist elite to reformist icon

Born into a peasant family in the Sverdlovsk region, Yeltsin rose steadily through the ranks of the Communist Party, eventually becoming the powerful regional party chief. His career shifted dramatically when Mikhail Gorbachev brought him to Moscow in 1985 to clean up the city’s corrupt party structure. Yeltsin soon became known for his populist style, riding trams and visiting shops, contrasting sharply with the aloof Soviet leadership.

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However, his radical demands for quicker reforms and his criticism of the party’s slow pace led to a spectacular public falling-out with Gorbachev in 1987. Demoted and exiled to a minor construction post, Yeltsin transformed his ouster into a political asset, cultivating a reputation as an anti-establishment outsider. He staged a remarkable comeback, winning a seat in the new Soviet parliament and, in 1991, becoming the first popularly elected leader in Russia’s 1,000-year history as President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

Yeltsin’s defining moment in 1991

Yeltsin’s most iconic moment arrived in August 1991 when hardline Communist plotters attempted a coup against Gorbachev. Defying the coup leaders, Yeltsin famously climbed atop a tank outside the Russian parliament building (the White House) in Moscow to rally opposition.

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Photo: Yeltsin standing on a tank and inviting the army to break from the 1991 coup was the high point of his career.

Addressing the military units deployed against the pro-democracy forces, he issued a direct command: “I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people.”

That move cemented his image as a defender of freedom, crushed the coup, made him the most powerful man in Russia, and set the stage for the Soviet Union to formally dissolve just four months later.

Shock therapy and the rise of the oligarchs

As the independent Russian Federation’s first leader, Yeltsin faced the difficult task of transforming a centrally planned command economy into a free-market system.

For that, he implemented a rapid, painful transition known as “shock therapy,” which involved the immediate liberalisation of prices and the mass privatisation of state assets.

What was supposed to fuel capitalism instead triggered a social catastrophe.

Prices soared by over 2,500% in a single year, destroying the savings of ordinary citizens. The quick privatisation process, marred by corruption, allowed a handful of well-connected insiders to acquire Russia’s most valuable resources for pennies on the dollar, giving birth to the class of uber-wealthy oligarchs.

Russia’s GDP contracted by over 40% in the decade, and as Yeltsin himself later admitted, “I want to ask your forgiveness—for the dreams that have not come true… I believed that we would cover the distance in one leap. We didn’t.”

Chaos, combat, and democracy under threat

Yeltsin’s presidency was also marked by violent political confrontations and wars.

In 1993, a constitutional crisis erupted when he disbanded the communist-dominated parliament; the ensuing standoff ended only when he ordered the military to shell the parliament building, concentrating vast power in the executive office. He also launched the disastrous First Chechen War (1994–1996) to suppress secessionist sentiment, a conflict that cost thousands of lives and became a profound political liability.

Photo: On October 3–4, 1993, Yeltsin ordered military forces to storm the parliament building, including tanks firing on the White House. Fires broke out during the fighting, and the building was severely damaged. Hundreds were killed or injured in the clashes.

Plagued by poor health, including multiple heart attacks and what were widely viewed as issues with alcohol, Yeltsin’s grip on power seemed tenuous. Yet, he secured an unlikely re-election victory in 1996, thanks largely to financial and media support from the very oligarchs he had empowered.

The final act

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1999, in a move that shocked the world and defined his final legacy, Yeltsin announced his immediate resignation. In an emotional televised address, he asked for the nation’s forgiveness and handed power to his then-Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.

Photo: In August 1999, Boris Yeltsin appointed ex-KGB officer Vladimir Putin as prime minister.

“I am leaving,” he declared. “I am leaving earlier than the set term. Russia must enter the new millennium with new politicians, with new faces, with new, smart, strong, energetic people.”

Yeltsin passed away in 2007, leaving behind a legacy as messy as it was monumental.

He smashed the totalitarian Soviet system and opened the door to democracy, yet presided over economic chaos, predatory capitalism, and the hollowing out of democratic institutions, setting the stage for the rise of a more centralised, authoritarian Russia.

(With inputs from agencies)