boris yeltsin finally dies
do not cremate!
Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies
Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died, the Kremlin says.
Mr Yeltsin was 76. The cause of death has not yet been announced. He had a history of heart trouble.
In 1991 he famously outmanoeuvred former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and then triumphed against parliament hardliners in 1993.
Mr Yeltsin became Russia's first democratically elected president after Mr Gorbachev resigned as Soviet leader in December 1991.
He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow, rallying the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika.
Mr Yeltsin had a quintuple heart bypass operation following his re-election in 1996.
He presided over Russia's troubled mass privatisation in the early 1990s and also launched the large-scale military intervention in Chechnya in 1994.
He announced his retirement on the last day of the 20th Century, handing over to secret service chief Vladimir Putin.
news.bbc.co.uk
Russian ex-president Yeltsin diesFormer Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died, the Kremlin says.
Mr Yeltsin was 76. The cause of death has not yet been announced. He had a history of heart trouble.
In 1991 he famously outmanoeuvred former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and then triumphed against parliament hardliners in 1993.
Mr Yeltsin became Russia's first democratically elected president after Mr Gorbachev resigned as Soviet leader in December 1991.
He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow, rallying the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika.
Mr Yeltsin had a quintuple heart bypass operation following his re-election in 1996.
He presided over Russia's troubled mass privatisation in the early 1990s and also launched the large-scale military intervention in Chechnya in 1994.
He announced his retirement on the last day of the 20th Century, handing over to secret service chief Vladimir Putin.
news.bbc.co.uk
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