The first-ever popularly elected leader of Russia, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a protégé of Mikhail Gorbachev's. Ironically, Yeltsin would both save and end Gorbachev's rule.

Born on February 1, 1931, in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Yeltsin worked on various construction projects from 1955 to 1968. He joined the Communist Party in 1961 during Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist reforms. In 1976, Yeltsin became first chairman of the Sverdlosk party committee. In that capacity, he met Gorbachev, who held the same position in Stavropol.

When Gorbachev took power in 1985, he chose Yeltsin to reform the corrupt Moscow party hierarchy. In 1986, Gorbachev made Yeltsin a non-voting member of the Politburo. Yeltsin, widely hailed as an effective reformer, soon became dissatisfied with the pace of perestroika, or restructuring. After challenging party conservatives and even Gorbachev himself, Yeltsin resigned from the party leadership in 1987 and from the Politburo in 1988.

Demoted to a deputy construction minister, Yeltsin remained popular with the people of Moscow. Popular demonstrations -- a new phenomenon in the U.S.S.R. -- erupted in support of Yeltsin. When Gorbachev introduced contested elections for the new Congress of People's Deputies in 1989, Yeltsin won a landslide victory. He was later elected president of the Russian parliament over Gorbachev's objections.

In July 1990, Yeltsin quit the Communist Party. The following year, he was elected president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the first popularly elected leader in Russian history.

Yeltsin's place in history was assured during the August 1991 coup by communist hard-liners. With Gorbachev detained at his country house, Yeltsin became the leader of the resistance to the coup, rallying his followers and demanding Gorbachev's return.

When the coup collapsed after a few days, Gorbachev did return to Moscow -- but the center of power had shifted. On August 23, Yeltsin humiliated Gorbachev in front of the Russian parliament, forcing him to read out documents implicating Gorbachev's own party colleagues in the coup against him.

Meanwhile, Yeltsin was negotiating with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus for a new arrangement to replace the Soviet Union. When the Commonwealth of Independent States was established on December 8, 1991, U.S. President Bush was notified before Gorbachev.

On December 25, Gorbachev resigned as president of a Soviet Union that had effectively ceased to exist.

Faced with a stagnating economy, a hostile legislature, an attempted coup and a military debacle in Chechnya, Yeltsin's prospects seemed dim in the 1996 elections. But Yeltsin staged another comeback, defeating communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov in a July runoff.

In November 1996, Yeltsin underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery and was confined to the hospital for months; health problems would continue to be a concern throughout his presidency.

Yeltsin became increasingly unpopular in his second term, as economic progress remained elusive and rumors of ill health became more pervasive. He appeared in public more sporadically, replacing government ministers as crises arose. On New Year's Eve 1999, Yeltsin surprised his nation and much of the world by announcing his resignation -- giving Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the additional title of acting president.