duck_duck • Apr 23, 2007 4:29 pm
Boris Yeltsin, who played a key role in the Soviet Union's demise and became Russia's first president, has died aged 76, the Kremlin says.
Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died of heart failure in hospital at 1545 (1145 GMT).
He came to power after being promoted by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man he then outmanoeuvred.
He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow.
In what became one of the defining moments of his career, Mr Yeltsin rallied the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika.
In another episode of high drama, two years later he ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993, when the building was occupied by hardline political opponents.
Story Continued
Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died of heart failure in hospital at 1545 (1145 GMT).
He came to power after being promoted by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, a man he then outmanoeuvred.
He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991 he mounted a tank in Moscow.
In what became one of the defining moments of his career, Mr Yeltsin rallied the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of glasnost and perestroika.
In another episode of high drama, two years later he ordered Russian tanks to fire on their own parliament in October 1993, when the building was occupied by hardline political opponents.
Story Continued