On This Day July 10, 1991 (Boris Yeltsin becomes the first elected president of Russia)

On This Day July 9, 1991. Boris Yeltsin becomes the first elected president of Russia. He won a landslide victory in the first direct presidential election in Russian history, after leading the opposition to the failed coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991. He remained in power until 1999, overseeing the transition from communism to democracy and capitalism