Born in 1931, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin rose rapidly through the ranks of post war Russia. A friend and ally of Gorbachev, Yeltsin helped lead the reformist wing of the Communist Party. Ever the political maverick, he fought against the rampant governmental corruption, and played a key role in putting down the hard-line Communist coup d'etat against Gorbachev in 1991.

While politically Yeltsin is seen as President who wields power with an iron fist, socially he has been known for his partaking in the pleasures of drink. Tales of his adventures are notorious and go from snubbing heads of state due to nasty hangovers to coping a feel on national television. In General Alexander Korzhakov's book "Boris Yeltsin: From Dawn to Dusk" Yeltsin is portrayed as a man who would neither give up control of the country nor the cask, and claims that after being forbidden by docters to drink his wife would smuggle in a little nip here and there to keep Boris happy.