04-23-2007

Mr. Yeltsin (1931 - 2007) died of heart failure in hospital at 15-45.

Yeltsin oversaw a period of immense change in Russia

Boris Yeltsin, who played a key role in the Soviet Union's demise and became Russia's first president, has died aged 76, the Kremlin says.

Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died of heart failure in hospital at 15-45 (11-45 GMT).

He came to power after being promoted by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man he then outmanoeuvred.

He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow.

In what became one of the defining moments of his career, Mr Yeltsin rallied the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika.

In another episode of high drama, two years later he ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993, when the building was occupied by hardline political opponents.

But Mr Yeltsin, who became Russia's first democratically-elected leader after Mr Gorbachev resigned in December 1991, saw his final years in office overshadowed by increasingly erratic behaviour and plummeting popularity as the economy suffered.

Bouts of ill-health were accompanied by rumours of a drinking problem, exhibited most famously when Mr Yeltsin grabbed a conductor's baton in Berlin and, apparently inebriated, tried to sing along with the orchestra.

Boris Yeltsin remained a reliable Western ally, even when relations grew icy over Nato's military action against Yugoslavia in 1999.

Mr Yeltsin may have disappointed Russians by bringing them neither peace nor prosperity, our correspondent says.

But, she adds, he did help end 70 years of Soviet Communism, and that, in the long run, is what he will probably be remembered for.

Mr Gorbachev paid a mixed tribute to his successor, saying Mr Yeltsin was responsible for "many great deeds for the good of the country and serious mistakes", Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Mr Putin has telephoned Mr Yeltsin's widow, Naina, to express his condolences.

The US White House praised Mr Yeltsin as an "historic figure during a time of great change and challenge for Russia".

A funeral for the former Russian president will take place at Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery on Wednesday 25 April.

President Putin has also declared that a day of national mourning.

"We will do everything we can to ensure that the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, his noble thoughts and his words ''take care of Russia' serve as a moral and political benchmark for us," he said in a televised address.

 
BORIS YELTSIN KEY DATES:

 Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Photo: AP, КоммерсантЪ.