Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin
and his wife Naina watch Russia day celebrations in Moscow in this June
12, 2003 file photo. (Photo: Reuters) Photo
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MOSCOW, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia's first President
Boris Yeltsin has died at the age of 76, a Kremlin spokesmen said Monday.
President Vladimir Putin has telephoned the widow
Naina Yeltsin to offer sympathies.
The former president "died a sudden death in Moscow
on Monday," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted Kremlin source as saying.
"Today, April 23, at 15:45 Moscow time, Russia's
first President Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin died at the Central Clinical
Hospital. The death was caused by the progressing cardiovascular polyorganic
insufficiency," Itar-Tass quoted head of the presidential administration's
medical center Sergei Mironov as saying.
The White House mourned Yeltsin as "a historic
figure" and offered condolences to his relatives, according to reports reaching
here.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, also
Yeltsin's once main opponent, has sent condolences to Naina, according to
Itar-Tass.
"I addressed Naina and the whole family. I feel
sincerely sorry for you and share your grief," Gorbachev was quoted as saying.
"Life itself made out paths cross and we had to act at a time when dramatic
changes were taking place in the country."
"There were many things where we disagreed and there
were big disagreements, and this affected political processes, but at this
moment I express my deep sympathy for the Yeltsin family," Gorbachev was quoted
as saying.
Born on Feb. 1, 1931, Yeltsin worked as construction
worker, communist party official and served as Russia's first democratically
elected president since 1991. He led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He won a second term in an election in 1996 but
transferred power to Putin and resigned from the post on Dec. 31, 1999. He then
kept a low profile.
Yeltsin graduated in 1955 from the Urals
Polytechnical Institute in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), where he was born. He
joined the Communist Party in 1961.
He became the first secretary of the Party's
Sverdlovsk district central committee in 1976 and a member of the Party's
central committee in 1981.
In 1985, he was pointed as chief the Party's Moscow
branch and in 1986, an alternative member of the Party's top decision making
body, the Politburo of the central committee.
He was forced to resign from the party leadership in
1988 after challenging Communist hard-liners and criticized Gorbachev's reforms.
He was appointed as a deputy chairman of a construction committee.
Yeltsin resigned from the Communist Party in 1990 and
became Russia's first democratically elected president in the popular election
in 1991.
BEIJING, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday sent condolences to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
In a message to Putin, Hu expressed his deep condolences and extended his sincere sympathies to Putin, the Russian government and people and Yeltsin's family. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon mourned on Monday the death of former Russian president Boris
Yeltsin.
In a brief statement released by his spokesperson, Ban
said he was saddened to learn of the death of Boris Yeltsin, and extended his
heartfelt condolences to Yeltsin's family and to the people and government of
Russia. Full story
BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- European Commission (EC)
President Jose Manuel Barroso extended here on Monday his condolence to the
death of Boris Yeltsin, the first President of the Russian Federation.
BRUSSELS, April 23 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday he was saddened by the death of former Russian
president Boris Yeltsin.
"President Yeltsin will be remembered for his courage
in charting a new, democratic course for his country. He was also at the
forefront of the effort to overcome the legacy of the Cold Warby forging a new
relationship between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance," said de Hoop
Scheffer in a statement. Full story
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The White House said
Monday that former Russian president Boris Yeltsin was "a historic figure" and
sent condolences to his family.
Meanwhile, the State Department said Yeltsin led Russia
through a period of "historic transformation." Full story
LONDON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony
Blair expressed on Monday his "sadness" for the death of former President Boris
Yeltsin, saying he played a "vital role" in Russia's history.
"It is with sadness that I learned of the death of former
President Boris Yeltsin," said Blair. Full story
JOHANNESBURG, April 23 (Xinhua) -- South African President
Thabo Mbeki paid tribute to former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who died on
Monday, saying he had been a friend of South Africa who had tried to strengthen
ties between the two countries. Full story
BUCHAREST,
April 23 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to convey
condolences to the family of former president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, who
passed away on Monday, at the age of 76, stated on Monday Romanian diplomacy
chief Adrian Cioroianu.
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