Tree surgeon sees Yeltsin getting into paintings, etc (8)
I believe the answer is:
arborist
'tree surgeon' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'yeltsin getting into paintings etc' is the wordplay.
'yeltsin' becomes 'Boris' (as in Russian politician Boris Yeltsin).
'getting into' indicates putting letters inside.
'paintings etc' becomes 'art' (works of art).
'boris' placed into 'art' is 'ARBORIST'.
'sees' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for arborist that I've seen before include "Tree expert" , "tree surgeon" .)