Sdiver
04-23-2007, 17:55
Love him or hate him, he helped get the Democratic ball rolling in Russia.
World leaders pay tribute to Yeltsin
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - World leaders on Monday praised Boris Yeltsin as a courageous fighter during the dramatic fall of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, and they recalled his colorful, if sometimes bizarre, personality.
Former President Bill Clinton, who was Yeltsin's U.S. counterpart for much of the 1990s, said Yeltsin believed that democracy was the only way to restore Russia's position of greatness in the post-communist era, working tirelessly toward that goal to the detriment of his own health.
"Fate gave him a tough time in which to govern, but history will be kind to him because he was courageous and steadfast on the big issues peace, freedom, and progress," Clinton said in a statement with his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
President Bush called Yeltsin a "historic figure who served his country during a period of momentous change."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose academic career was largely spent studying the Soviet Union, said Yeltsin "ushered in a new era for his country in which ordinary Russians were able to speak and worship without fear, to own property, and to choose their leaders freely.
"In doing so, he inspired a generation of young Russians to build a bright new future for their country and to choose peaceful relations with their new neighbors," she said in a statement.
Others hailed Yeltsin as a healer of the Cold War divide, opening up Russia to the West.
Yeltsin "will be remembered for the critical role he played in advancing political and economic reforms in Russia, as well as in fostering rapprochement between East and West," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, according to a spokeswoman.
Many leaders said Yeltsin would be best remembered as standing on a tank outside the Russian parliament building, defying the 1991 coup aimed at restoring a hard-line Soviet regime. Others praised the difficult path he followed in acknowledging the independence of the former states of the Soviet Union.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish President Lech Walesa said it was Yeltsin, not Gorbachev, who was the driving force that ultimately led to the dismantling of the Soviet Union. He said the "great service of Yeltsin is what we have today — a free world, the era based on knowledge, the Internet, globalization."
Yeltsin's personality could be as strong as his actions, some leaders said.
"He could be moody and introspective, but once he was a friend, he was a friend for life," former British Prime Minister John Major, who also served roughly when Yeltsin was in office, told the British Broadcasting Corp.
"I think his tremendous work in terms of instilling democracy is what will stand out when people have forgotten the economic difficulties, and forgotten the miscellaneous matters about as whether he drank too much," he said.
In August 1994, Yeltsin's antics as he and then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl presided over the withdrawal of the Red Army from eastern Germany endeared him to Germans. On the steps of Berlin's city hall, a flush-faced Yeltsin grabbed a police band conductor's baton and began directing the musicians. German officials later said Yeltsin had begun drinking before noon.
"Boris Yeltsin was a large personality in Russian and international politics, a courageous fighter for democracy and freedom and a true friend of Germany," current German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Yeltsin's health was the source of more than one memory. Sweden's former Prime Minister Goran Persson described him as having "no coordination between movement and thought" during a December 1996 visit to Stockholm, shortly after having heart surgery.
"It was a bit uncomfortable, actually," Persson said in comments first broadcast in a recent TV documentary. "This was not a person who lacked influence, and yet you could tell how incredibly tired he was."
Yeltsin's death startled Ukraine's first president, Leonid Kravchuk, who said he saw Yeltsin in January during a tennis tournament.
"He looked so healthy," Kravchuk said. "His death became a huge emotional shock for me."
World leaders pay tribute to Yeltsin
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - World leaders on Monday praised Boris Yeltsin as a courageous fighter during the dramatic fall of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, and they recalled his colorful, if sometimes bizarre, personality.
Former President Bill Clinton, who was Yeltsin's U.S. counterpart for much of the 1990s, said Yeltsin believed that democracy was the only way to restore Russia's position of greatness in the post-communist era, working tirelessly toward that goal to the detriment of his own health.
"Fate gave him a tough time in which to govern, but history will be kind to him because he was courageous and steadfast on the big issues peace, freedom, and progress," Clinton said in a statement with his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
President Bush called Yeltsin a "historic figure who served his country during a period of momentous change."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose academic career was largely spent studying the Soviet Union, said Yeltsin "ushered in a new era for his country in which ordinary Russians were able to speak and worship without fear, to own property, and to choose their leaders freely.
"In doing so, he inspired a generation of young Russians to build a bright new future for their country and to choose peaceful relations with their new neighbors," she said in a statement.
Others hailed Yeltsin as a healer of the Cold War divide, opening up Russia to the West.
Yeltsin "will be remembered for the critical role he played in advancing political and economic reforms in Russia, as well as in fostering rapprochement between East and West," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, according to a spokeswoman.
Many leaders said Yeltsin would be best remembered as standing on a tank outside the Russian parliament building, defying the 1991 coup aimed at restoring a hard-line Soviet regime. Others praised the difficult path he followed in acknowledging the independence of the former states of the Soviet Union.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish President Lech Walesa said it was Yeltsin, not Gorbachev, who was the driving force that ultimately led to the dismantling of the Soviet Union. He said the "great service of Yeltsin is what we have today — a free world, the era based on knowledge, the Internet, globalization."
Yeltsin's personality could be as strong as his actions, some leaders said.
"He could be moody and introspective, but once he was a friend, he was a friend for life," former British Prime Minister John Major, who also served roughly when Yeltsin was in office, told the British Broadcasting Corp.
"I think his tremendous work in terms of instilling democracy is what will stand out when people have forgotten the economic difficulties, and forgotten the miscellaneous matters about as whether he drank too much," he said.
In August 1994, Yeltsin's antics as he and then-German Chancellor Helmut Kohl presided over the withdrawal of the Red Army from eastern Germany endeared him to Germans. On the steps of Berlin's city hall, a flush-faced Yeltsin grabbed a police band conductor's baton and began directing the musicians. German officials later said Yeltsin had begun drinking before noon.
"Boris Yeltsin was a large personality in Russian and international politics, a courageous fighter for democracy and freedom and a true friend of Germany," current German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
Yeltsin's health was the source of more than one memory. Sweden's former Prime Minister Goran Persson described him as having "no coordination between movement and thought" during a December 1996 visit to Stockholm, shortly after having heart surgery.
"It was a bit uncomfortable, actually," Persson said in comments first broadcast in a recent TV documentary. "This was not a person who lacked influence, and yet you could tell how incredibly tired he was."
Yeltsin's death startled Ukraine's first president, Leonid Kravchuk, who said he saw Yeltsin in January during a tennis tournament.
"He looked so healthy," Kravchuk said. "His death became a huge emotional shock for me."