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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies | Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died, the Kremlin says. | 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. | 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. | 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 head of state 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. | 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. | Mr Yeltsin had a quintuple heart bypass operation following his re-election in 1996. |
| Chechnya conflict | |
| Mr Yeltsin ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993, when the building was occupied by hardline political opponents. But the BBC Moscow correspondent says Mr Yeltsin will be remembered as the man who brought democracy to Russia. | |
| 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 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. | He announced his retirement on the last day of the 20th Century, handing over to secret service chief Vladimir Putin. |
| Speaking in an interview with Russian television in 2000, Mr Yeltsin said that he saw the lives lost in Chechnya as the biggest responsibility he had to bear. | |
| But he added that there had been no alternative and that Russia had to act against Chechen separatists. | |
| "I cannot shift the blame for Chechnya, for the sorrow of numerous mothers and fathers," he said. "I made the decision, therefore I am responsible." |