In March 1991, a nationwide referendum was held in the Russian Federation, then part of the USSR, as a result of which the institution of the presidency appeared in the republic. The establishment of the presidency was caused by the peculiarities of the economic and political situation, which required the strengthening of the executive power. In June 1991, the republic received its first president, who became B. N. Yeltsin.
Before the introduction of the presidency
Boris Yeltsin's popularity among the broad masses of the population began to grow since 1987, when, as the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, he went into open conflict with the central leadership of the CPSU. The main criticism from Yeltsin was directed at M. S. Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Central Committee.
In 1990, Boris Yeltsin became a people's deputy of the RSFSR, and at the end of May of the same year he was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the republic. A few days later, the Declaration of Russia's Sovereignty was adopted. It provided that the legislation of Russia has priority over the legislative acts of the USSR. The so-called "parade of sovereignties" began in the country that was beginning to fall apart.
At the last in the history of the CPSU, the XXVIII Congress, Boris Yeltsin demonstratively left the ranks of the Communist Party.
In February 1991, Boris Yeltsin, in his televised speech, sharply criticized the policies of the top leadership of the Soviet Union. He demanded that Gorbachev resign and transfer all power to the Federation Council. A month later, a popular referendum was held in the USSR, the results of which were ambiguous. The overwhelming majority of the country's population was in favor of preserving the Soviet Union while simultaneously introducing presidential rule in Russia. This actually meant that a diarchy was coming in the country.
First President of the Republic
On June 12, 1991, the first presidential elections in the RSFSR were held in the history of Russia. The victory in the first round was won by Boris Yeltsin, who went to the polls in tandem with Alexander Rutskoi, who eventually became vice president. And two months later, events unfolded in the country that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On August 19, 1991, several politicians from Mikhail Gorbachev's inner circle announced that the State Committee for the State of Emergency was being created in the country. Yeltsin immediately addressed the Russian people, calling the move an attempt at a coup d'etat. Over the course of several days of political confrontation, Yeltsin issued several decrees that expanded his presidential powers.
As a result, the first Russian president won an impressive victory, which was followed by the collapse of the USSR.
In subsequent years, many important political events took place in Russia, in which the first president of the republic was directly involved. In 1996, Yeltsin was reelected to the highest state post in Russia. At the very end of 1999, Boris Yeltsin officially and voluntarily resigned from his presidency, transferring power before the end of the presidency to his successor, who became V. V. Putin.
