Mr Sergei Stepashin was known for years as President Yeltsin's loyal ally, but clashed with the Kremlin almost immediately after being appointed prime minister. "I told the president that I was, am, and will be with him, always," Mr Stepashin told his last cabinet meeting less than an hour after the resignation was announced. "I am grateful to him for bringing me as a little boy into big politics."
However, from the week he took office in May, he was involved in disputes with Kremlin aides over appointments to his new government.
Mr Stepashin (47) developed a career as a leading figure in Mr Yeltsin's security apparatus, and survived despite his leading role in the disastrous Chechen war. He rose to the premiership from the Interior Ministry, where he commanded hundreds of thousands of internal security troops and more than a million regular police.
Mr Stepashin joined Mr Yeltsin's inner circle in 1993 - he was one of the first members of the rebel Soviet-era parliament to accept an offer to join the government shortly before the President sent tanks against deputies.
On leaving office, Mr Stepashin boasted that he had fulfilled the main tasks he faced. "The rouble didn't collapse as had been predicted. We were trusted," he said. "I understood in the USA and in Sarajevo, they believed that this was a civilised government and, in fact, an uncorrupted one."
Mr Stepashin's reputation was damaged by his role in the Chechen war, a conflict which even Mr Yeltsin - in a rare acknowledgement of failure - once said "may have been a mistake". He later made a quiet comeback as a Kremlin aide. Two years ago Mr Yeltsin gave him a second chance at a top job, appointing him to head the Justice Ministry and then the Interior Ministry.