Boris Yeltsin served as President of the Russian Federation from 1991 until 1999. Yeltsin's political career spans the decline and fall of the Soviet Union,  the end of the Cold War, and Russia's difficult transition to capitalism and democracy in the 1990s. Though initially very popular in Russia, his approval rating reached single digits by the time of his resignation, which led the way for the authoritarian presidency of Vladimir Putin. My guest for this episode is Dr Marc Berenson of the Russia Institute at King's College London.