-
He was born 1 February 1931
-
Yeltsin was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 17 March 1961 to 13 July 1990.
-
In January 1981 Yeltsin was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Soviet Union's highest medal, for "the service to the Communist Party and the Soviet State and in connection with the 50th birthday".
-
In March 1981 Yeltsin was elected as a full member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
-
On 11 March 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the CPSU by the Politburo after the death of Konstantin Chernenko
-
On 4 April 1985, Yeltsin received a call from Gorbachev's leading protege Yegor Ligachev summoning him to Moscow to take up position as Head of the Construction Department of the Party's Central Committee.
-
On 23 December 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Yeltsin as First Secretary of the CPSU Moscow City Committee, effectively "Mayor" of the Soviet capital.
-
On 29 May 1990, he was elected the chairman of the Russian Supreme Soviet.
-
On 12 June 1991 he was elected by popular vote to the newly created post of President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).
-
On 31 December 1999, under enormous internal pressure, Yeltsin announced his resignation, leaving the presidency in the hands of his chosen successor, then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
-
Yeltsin died of congestive heart failure on 23 April 2007.
