Boris Yeltsin oversleeps and misses a meeting with Irish leader

Are All People Called Boris Complete Buffoons?

Say what you want about Vladimir Putin - he’s not exactly a bundle of laughs. Yes, he certainly looks good with his shirt off and manfully astride a horse, but in terms of entertainment value he leaves a lot to be desired. But not all Russia’s Presidents were so serious and terrifying. Take Boris Yeltsin for instance. It was fairly well known that the man enjoyed the occasional tipple, often to the detriment of his presidential duties. Which is exactly what happened on this day in 1994 when he managed to oversleep and miss an important meeting with the leader of Ireland.During a flight from Washington DC back to Moscow, Boris agreed to pop into County Limerick for a reception with the Irish prime minister. But once the plane landed, the dignitaries were told that the president couldn’t be woken up, so a lavish planned reception had to be scrapped. Later Yeltsin claimed it had all been a mix-up and, “…the security services did not let in the people who were due to wake me - of course I will sort things out and punish them,” he said, warmly.