I recently watched the new Adam Curtis documentary about the collapse of the Soviet Union. The thing that I found most surprising is that Boris Yeltsin came out looking great. How did this seemingly dynamic man of integrity become the drunken laughing stock he was seen as in the mid-1990s?

by DJ_Micoh

I honestly had no idea that he helped to defeat a coup against Gorbachev that would have put him in charge. How did he go from this to stumbling around the White House grounds in his underpants looking for pizza in a few short years?

Jetamors

There's definitely more to add, but I liked this answer by u/Kochevnik81: How genuine was Boris Yeltsin's democratic reforms in Russia? Did Putin "betray" his ideals by grabbing more power?--the main answer focuses more on what he actually did do, and this follow-up discusses some of the context around his poor reputation.