Born on January 20, 1937 in the village of Anyakovo in the Aktanysh District of Tatarstan.
1954: Graduated from school and enrolled at the mechanical engineers department of the Kazan Agricultural Institute.
1959: Graduated from the Kazan Agricultural Institute, worked as an engineer and then chief engineer at the Muslyumovsk technical maintenance and repair station. In 1962, he was appointed director of the Menzelinsk division of the Selkhoztekhnika agricultural equipment association.
1967: Appointed instructor then promoted to deputy head of the agricultural department of Tatarstan's Regional Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
1969: Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources of Tatarstan.
1983: Appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Tatarstan; then for two years held the post of Secretary of Tatarstan's Regional Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
1985: Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Tatarstan.
1989: First Secretary of Tatarstan's Regional Committee of the Soviet Communist Party.
1990: Elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Tatarstan.
On June 12, 1991, was elected the first President of Tatarstan; reelected to the post twice, on March 24, 1996 and March 25, 2001.
On March 25, 2005, the State Council of Tatarstan, acting upon the recommendation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, granted him the powers of the President of Tatarstan.