Zaitsev was born on 2 March 1938 in Ivanovo to Mikhail Yakovlevich Zaitsev and Maria Ivanovna Zaitseva. His father was a victim of the repressions of Joseph Stalin and was incarcerated in one of Stalin’s camps, and his mother was a cleaner and laundress. From 1945 – 1952 he studied Secondary School â„– 22 in Ivanovo.