Three decades after Boris Yeltsin was inaugurated as Russia's first president, images made by his personal photographers offer a fascinating glimpse into the Yeltsin presidency -- and Russia -- through the 1990s.
In Photos: The Yeltsin Years
- By Amos Chapple
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Yeltsin waves while standing next to Vladimir Putin on December 31, 1999. Yeltsin handed the presidency to Putin that day after nearly a decade in power. Yeltsin left office deeply unpopular -- largely due to the economic hardship that hammered the country during his presidency -- but is credited by some for preventing a potential civil war in Russia during the massive political shift that he oversaw in the wake of the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin died in April 2007 aged 76.
