Fun Facts about Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was a Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation serving from 1991 to 1999.  According to author and historian Taylor Branch's interviews with Bill Clinton, on a 1995 visit to Washington D.C., Yeltsin was found on Pennsylvania Avenue, drunk, in his underwear and trying to hail a cab in order to find pizza. Yeltsin's personal and health problems received a great deal of attention in the global press. As the years went on, he was often viewed as an increasingly unstable leader, rather than the inspiring figure as whom he was once seen. The possibility that he might die in office was often discussed. Starting in the last years of his presidential term, Yeltsin's primary residence was the Gorki-9 presidential dacha west of Moscow. He made frequent stays at the nearby government sanatorium in Barvikha