Boris Yeltsin is dead...

[маразм1]

the former president of Russia died today.  Waiting for info...

[Hector]

They won't need to preserve the body.

[springrite]

Bad news for Vodka makers and retailers/wholesalers.

[маразм1]

Bad news for Vodka makers and retailers/wholesalers.

to you he probably was that.  But to US, he was the equivalent of living George Washington.  He was the first president of Russia.

I remember very well the early 1990's, the demonstrations, the barricades in Moscow.  I have lots of pictures of the whole thing, I should scan them someday. 

[Danny]

May the big guy rest in peace.   0:)

[RebLem]

Russia's former president Yeltsin dies

Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:54PM EDT

By Christian Lowe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who buried the Soviet Union then led Russia through its chaotic first years of independence, died on Monday aged 76, the Kremlin said.

Many Russians initially viewed Yeltsin as a hero for dismantling Communist rule. His finest hour came when, in 1991, he clambered onto a tank and raised his fist in defiance of hardline coup plotters who wanted to turn back the clock.

But his economic "shock therapy" cast millions into poverty and his last years in office were marked by chaos, erratic behaviour combined with persistent reports of drunkenness, and bloody conflict with Chechen rebels.

"Today, at 15:45 (1145 GMT) Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin died in the Central Clinical Hospital as a result of a deteriorating cardio-vascular problem," said a Kremlin spokeswoman.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, whom Yeltsin effectively forced from office, paid tribute to his achievements, and noted his shortcomings.

"I express the very deepest condolences to the family of the deceased, on whose shoulders rest major events for the good of the country, and serious mistakes," Gorbachev said.

"A tragic fate," said Gorbachev, who had bitter relations with Yeltsin in his lifetime.

President Vladimir Putin, whom Yeltsin anointed as his heir before stepping down in the last hours of 1999, telephoned his widow and expressed his "deepest condolences", the Kremlin said.

The chaos he inherited from Yeltsin created a widespread disillusionment with democracy that later allowed Putin, backed by most Russians, to roll back many of Yeltsin's reforms.

Yeltsin had for years been dogged by heart problems that required multiple heart bypass surgery while he was still in office. His deteriorating health ultimately forced him to step aside in favor of Putin.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in Moscow for talks with Putin, said Yeltsin was an important figure.

"No Americans at least will forget seeing him standing on the tank outside of the White House resisting a coup attempt."

PEASANT FAMILY

Yeltsin ruled Russia from 1991 to the last day of 1999, when he handed over power to Putin. He had the distinction of becoming the first Russian leader to step down voluntarily.

Many of Yeltsin's contemporaries in the democracy movement alleged Putin had betrayed Yeltsin's legacy by dismantling democracy, but once in retirement he never returned to public politics.

Born into a poor peasant family in an industrial region in the Ural mountains, Yeltsin lived with his family in one room of a wooden hut.

He studied civil engineering and rose to become a successful construction manager before switching to work for the local Communist party.

Gorbachev, looking for thrusting managers to re-invigorate Soviet rule, summoned him to Moscow to become the capital's party chief.

He was sacked for his maverick style but in 1989 he was elected to the new Soviet Congress of People's Deputies and in June 1991 he was elected president of Russia -- still within the Soviet Union -- in a landslide.

Two months later, he faced down tanks in the Moscow streets, and six months after that, he signed a treaty with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus abolishing the Soviet Union altogether. Yeltsin, triumphant, became president of a sovereign Russia.

(Additional reporting by Vera Kalian and Guy Faulconbridge)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2330837320070423?src=042307_1227_TOPSTORY_boris_yeltsin_dies

[springrite]

to you he probably was that.  But to US, he was the equivalent of living George Washington.  He was the first president of Russia.

I remember very well the early 1990's, the demonstrations, the barricades in Moscow.  I have lots of pictures of the whole thing, I should scan them someday. 

Yes, I remember staying up all night for a few days (with some short naps) following the events in Moscow and was mightily impressed.

[Lethevich]

Mr. Yeltsin was like an even funnier version of GWB, to me it's a loss.

[Florestan]

R.I.P.

May God have mercy on his soul.

[маразм1]

Mr. Yeltsin was like an even funnier version of GWB, to me it's a loss.

At least he did something good for the country.  Bush is just a moron. 

[Florestan]

At least he did something good for the country.

I remember his finest hour: addressing the Moscow people atop a tank, leading the resistance against the Communist putsch. No matter what he did before or after, at that time he was a true hero.

[head-case]

At least he did something good for the country.  Bush is just a moron. 

The Soviet Union would have fallen with or without Yeltsin.  His "market reforms" amounted to handing the Soviet state resources off to his cronies, to the extent that something like a dozen people ended up owning a quarter of the economy.  In the mean time, the great mass of the public was plunged into poverty from which they have not yet recovered.  Bush is Aristotle compared with Yeltsin.

[karlhenning]

Bush is Aristotle compared with Yeltsin.

Ridiculous statement.

[zamyrabyrd]

Ridiculous statement.

Both are seen on TV these days trying to be hip with the music 40 years too late.
But seriously, wasn't he the liquidator of Chechniya? Not only that he putsched out Gorbachev who would have been far better.

ZB