Early life Boris Yeltsin was born in the village of Butka, in Talitsky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russian SFSR. His father, Nikolay Yeltsin, was convicted of anti-Soviet agitation. Boris Yeltsin studied at Pushkin High School in Berezniki in Perm Krai. From 1955 to 1957 he worked as a foreman. In 1976 the Politburo of the CPSU promoted him to the post of the first secretary of the CPSU Committee of Sverdlovsk Oblast (effectively he became the head of one of the most important industrial regions in the USSR), he remained in this position until 1985.