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Hundreds gather to mourn Yeltsin Hundreds gather to mourn Yeltsin
(about 2 hours later)
Hundreds of people have gathered to pay their respects at a Moscow church where the body of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is lying in state.Hundreds of people have gathered to pay their respects at a Moscow church where the body of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin is lying in state.
Mr Yeltsin's body will remain on public view at the gold-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral until his state funeral and burial on Wednesday. Lines of mourners filed past Mr Yeltsin's open casket as priests chanted liturgies at the gold-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral.
The former leader died from heart failure on Monday, aged 76.The former leader died from heart failure on Monday, aged 76.
Current President Vladimir Putin led tributes, saying that under Mr Yeltsin Russia had entered a "whole new epoch". A state funeral for Mr Yeltsin will be held on Wednesday, which has been declared a national day of mourning.
His predecessor, who played a key role in the collapse of Communist Russia, had bequeathed a state in which "power truly belongs to the people", Mr Putin said. Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Snr are among dignitaries from around the world expected to attend.
Orthodox funeral Prayers and incense
Mr Yeltsin's body was brought to Russia's largest cathedral in a black limousine, and greeted by a guard of honour. Mr Yeltsin's body was taken to the cathedral in a black limousine, and greeted by a guard of honour of several hundred soldiers.
Russians give their views on Yeltsin and his legacyIn pictures The cathedral was destroyed in 1931 under Joseph Stalin and rebuilt in the late 1990s during Mr Yeltsin's rule. Russians give their views on Yeltsin and his legacyIn pictures Inside, Mr Yeltsin's widow, Naina, dressed in black, wept quietly alongside her husband's casket, as white-robed Orthodox priests chanted prayers and burned incense.
Members of the public queued to pay their respects ahead of the funeral service, which will be broadcast live on national television. Members of the public - some weeping and clutching flowers - queued to pay their respects to the man who ushered in a new age of democracy for the country.
Three Russian Orthodox Church bishops will officiate at what will be the first funeral for a head of state sanctioned by the Church since Tsar Alexander III's in 1894. "I followed Yeltsin as soon as he appeared I followed him everywhere. He was the first honest and decent president," said 75-year-old Taisiya Shlyonova.
Former US presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr are expected to be among foreign leaders attending, according to Russian media reports. 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/6585687.stm">Mixed verdict on Yeltsin class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/38422.stm">Obituary of Yeltsin class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/6584785.stm">In quotes: Reaction to death The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who is at the cathedral, says the talk amongst mourners is very much of Mr Yeltsin's legacy of overthrowing communism, of the early 1990s when people were very enthusiastic for Mr Yeltsin in Russia, when he was a huge figure in Russian politics.
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/6585687.stm">Mixed verdict on Yeltsin class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/38422.stm">Obituary of Yeltsin class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/6584785.stm">In quotes: Reaction to death He says amongst these people there seems to be a nostalgia for that era when Russia had real hope for the future.
Wednesday has also been declared a national day of mourning. But our correspondent says the crowds are relatively small, adding that most people feel very ambivalent about Mr Yeltsin's legacy.
Mr Yeltsin's body will then be moved to the city's Novodevichye Cemetery, the resting-place of many other eminent Russians. Mr Yeltsin's funeral, which will be broadcast live on national television, will be the first for a head of state sanctioned by the Church since Tsar Alexander III's in 1894.
He will be buried close to Raisa Gorbachev, the wife of his great rival and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. His body will then be moved to the city's Novodevichy Cemetery, the resting-place of many other eminent Russians.
The only Soviet leader to be buried in the cemetery is Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev, who was ousted in 1964 and died in obscurity. Other Communist Party leaders are buried in Red Square by the Kremlin wall. No Red Square
Mr Yeltsin will be buried close to Raisa Gorbachev, the wife of his great rival and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
HAVE YOUR SAY I think Yeltsin will go down in history in a very negative way - his policies impoverished the country and tens of millions of its people Gosha, New York Send us your comments The only Soviet leader to be buried in the cemetery is Stalin's successor Nikita Khrushchev, who was ousted in 1964 and died in obscurity. Other Communist Party leaders are buried in Red Square by the Kremlin wall.
The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says the current administration has given no reason for its choice of funeral arrangements, but each decision is bound to be carefully analysed for what it might say about contemporary Russian politics and the country's modern history.The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says the current administration has given no reason for its choice of funeral arrangements, but each decision is bound to be carefully analysed for what it might say about contemporary Russian politics and the country's modern history.
Mr Putin postponed his annual speech to a joint session of parliament, due to be delivered on Wednesday, until Thursday. Mr Yeltsin died from cardiovascular and multi-organ failure 12 days after he was admitted to Moscow's central clinical hospital, medical officials said.
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.
He developed a viral infection after a sightseeing trip to Jordan at the beginning of April, an unconfirmed report on the gazeta.ru website said.He developed a viral infection after a sightseeing trip to Jordan at the beginning of April, an unconfirmed report on the gazeta.ru website said.
Twelve days before his death, he was admitted to Moscow's central clinical hospital where he suffered cardiovascular and multi-organ failure, medical officials said.
Ill-health
Mr Yeltsin came to power as a champion of Russia's new democracy.
HAVE YOUR SAY I think Yeltsin will go down in history in a very negative way - his policies impoverished the country and tens of millions of its people Gosha, New York 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.
Mr Yeltsin saw his later years in office overshadowed by bouts of ill-health, increasingly erratic behaviour and plummeting popularity, and handed over to Mr Putin in the final hours of 1999.
BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke says under Mr Yeltsin Russians were given greater political freedoms than ever, but history may judge his disastrous military intervention in the rebellious region of Chechnya much more harshly.