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Yeltsin to lie in state in Moscow | |
(about 7 hours later) | |
The body of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is to lie in state in Moscow ahead of a funeral on Wednesday. | |
His body will be viewed in the Church of Christ the Saviour, a cathedral rebuilt during his presidency and a symbol of the post-communist era. | |
Mr Yeltsin, who had a history of heart trouble, died of heart failure on Monday in a city hospital, aged 76. | |
Current President Vladimir Putin led tributes, saying that under Mr Yeltsin Russia had entered a "whole new epoch". | |
His predecessor had bequeathed a state in which "power truly belongs to the people", Mr Putin said. | |
Mr Yeltsin's body will lie in state on Wednesday, ahead of a Moscow funeral service. The day has been declared a national day of mourning. | |
Mr Putin later announced that he had postponed his annual speech to a joint session of parliament, due to be delivered on Wednesday, until Thursday. | |
Mixed tribute | |
Mr Yeltsin's death was announced by the Kremlin, the seat of power which he fell out with, then later occupied as Russia's first post-Soviet head of state. | Mr Yeltsin's death was announced by the Kremlin, the seat of power which he fell out with, then later occupied as Russia's first post-Soviet head of state. |
[Boris Yeltsin] was a straightforward and bold national leader Vladimir PutinRussian president He developed a viral infection after a sightseeing trip to Jordan at the beginning of April and was admitted to Moscow's central clinical hospital 12 days ago, an unconfirmed report on the gazeta.ru website said. | |
The last Soviet leader, Mikhail 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". | The last Soviet leader, Mikhail 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". |
Mr Putin, who succeeded Mr Yeltsin at the end of 1999, recalled Mr Yeltsin as a "courageous but genial and warm-hearted person. | Mr Putin, who succeeded Mr Yeltsin at the end of 1999, recalled Mr Yeltsin as a "courageous but genial and warm-hearted person. |
"He was a straightforward and bold national leader who was frank and honest to his utmost in defending his positions," he said in a televised address. | "He was a straightforward and bold national leader who was frank and honest to his utmost in defending his positions," he said in a televised address. |
'Champion of democracy' | 'Champion of democracy' |
Mr Yeltsin came to power as a champion of Russia's new democracy. | |
YELTSIN KEY DATES July 1990: Resigns from Communist PartyJune 1991: Elected president of Russian republic (in USSR)August 1991: Rallies citizens against anti-Gorbachev coup, bans Russian communist partyDecember 1991: Takes over from Mikhail Gorbachev as head of state1992: Lifts price controls, launches privatisationOctober 1993: Russia on brink of civil war, Yeltsin orders tanks to fire at parliamentDecember 1994: Sends tanks into ChechnyaJune 1996: Re-elected as Russian president, suffers heart attack during campaign1998: Financial crisis, rouble loses 75% of its valueDecember 1999: Resigns, appoints Vladimir Putin successor class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/38422.stm">Obituary of Yeltsin class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/6584785.stm">In quotes: Reaction to death class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6149&edition=1">Send us your comments In a defining moment of his career, Mr Yeltsin mounted a tank in Moscow in August 1991, rallying the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika. | |
Two years later, in another episode of high drama, he ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993. | |
But Mr Yeltsin saw his final years in office overshadowed by bouts of ill-health accompanied by rumours of a drinking problem, increasingly erratic behaviour and plummeting popularity. | |
He announced his retirement in the final hours of 1999, handing over to Mr Putin, the former head of the FSB, Russia's internal security service, whom he had made prime minister months earlier. | |
BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke says under the Yeltsin leadership Russians were given greater political and civic freedoms than they had ever enjoyed. | |
But history may judge Mr Yeltsin's disastrous military intervention in the rebellious region of Chechnya much more harshly, he adds. | |
A bloody war of attrition, begun in 1994, left tens of thousands of people dead, and the north Caucasus permanently destabilised. | |