Question

How did Boris Yeltsin become the president of Russia?

• He overthrew Gorbachev in a coup d'état.
• He was appointed by the Communist Party
• He was a military leader who took control.
• He won the country's first open election

Answer 1

Boris Yeltsin became the president of Russia by winning the country's first open election in 1991. He gained popularity and power for supporting democratic reforms, thwarting an anti-reform coup and playing a significant role in the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Step-by-step explanation:

Boris Yeltsin became the president of Russia by winning the country's first open election. After the attempted coup in August 1991 by hard-liners in the Kremlin, Yeltsin, who was the president of the Russian republic, acted decisively in support of the reforms and against the coup, which led to his rise in popularity and authority. The subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, where Yeltsin played a key role, paved the way for his leadership. He did not overthrow Gorbachev in a coup détat; he was not appointed by the Communist Party; nor was he a military leader who took control.

As a popular politician, Yeltsin was instrumental in thwarting the hard-line Communist coup that sought to reverse the democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe. He supported Mikhail Gorbachev's return to office, but he also realized the increasing support for the dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence of its republics. In a historic shift, the republics led by Yeltsin moved towards creating a new political landscape. When the USSR was dissolved, Yeltsin became the leader of the Russian Federation, which emerged from the largest Soviet state.

Answer 2

Boris Yeltsin became the President of Russia by winning the country's first open election in 1991. Prior to this, he had been a prominent politician and a member of the Communist Party, serving as the First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee from 1985 to 1987 and as the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR from 1990 to 1991.

However, Yeltsin eventually broke with the Communist Party, becoming a vocal critic of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika. In 1990, he was elected as the leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and in 1991, he ran for the presidency of the Russian Federation in the country's first competitive presidential election, defeating his opponents with 57% of the vote.

Yeltsin's victory marked a significant turning point in the history of the Soviet Union and Russia, as it marked the first time that a non-Communist leader had come to power in the country since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917