In memory of Boris Yeltsin

“He was a direct and courageous national leader”

Vladimir PUTIN, President of Russia:

— Boris Nikolaevich Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, has died. With this title, he forever entered the history of the country and the whole world.

The man who helped begin an entire era has passed away. A new, democratic Russia was born - a free state open to the world. A state in which power truly belongs to the people.

The strength of the first president of Russia lay in the massive support of his ideas and aspirations by the citizens of the country. Thanks to the will and direct initiative of Boris Yeltsin, a new Constitution was adopted - declaring human rights to be the highest value. It opened up the opportunity for people to freely express their thoughts, freely choose power in the country, and realize their creative and entrepreneurial plans. This Constitution made it possible for the first time to begin building a real, effective federation.

We knew Boris Nikolaevich as a courageous and at the same time warm-hearted, sincere person. He was a straightforward and courageous national leader. And when defending his positions, he was always extremely frank and honest.

Boris Yeltsin took full responsibility for everything he called for and strived for. For what he tried to do and did - for the sake of the country, for the sake of millions of Russians. And he invariably passed through all the troubles and adversities of Russia, the difficulties and problems of people.

And today I express my most sincere, deep condolences to Naina Iosifovna. To the family and friends of Boris Nikolaevich.

We mourn with you. We will do everything so that the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, his noble thoughts, his words “Take care of Russia” always serve as our moral and political guideline.

I declare April 25, 2007 a day of national mourning.

“We both wanted the best for the country and its people”

Mikhail GORBACHEV, first president of the USSR:

“I turned to Naina Iosifovna and the whole family. I sincerely sympathize with the grief of the family. Life decreed that our destinies crossed and we had to act at a time when the most important changes were taking place in the country. Yes, there were differences between us, big ones at that, and this left an imprint on what was happening in the country. But at these moments I think that we both wanted the best for the country and its people.

“He gave you and me the opportunity to realize ourselves.”

Boris NEMTSOV, former First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia:

- I believe that Yeltsin is a liberator. He gave you and me the opportunity to realize ourselves. He hated censorship. He respected the multi-party system. Yeltsin believed that private property was better than bureaucracy. In a word, he gave birth to a new Russian democracy, everything that his successor destroyed.

"Yeltsin defeated his political opponents, but never destroyed them"

Grigory YAVLINSKY, leader of the Yabloko party:

- He was a personality of great political significance and led the country during one of the most difficult moments of its life.

Only time will give a true assessment of Yeltsin’s role in Russian history. Now it is very important to remember that Yeltsin defeated his political opponents, but never destroyed them. The fact that revenge and settling personal scores, the physical elimination of political opponents did not become part of state policy in the 90s is his personal merit.

“History will give Yeltsin a plus”

Evgeny YASIN, former Russian Minister of Economy:

- Yeltsin was a great citizen of his homeland and played a big role in history. Most people today probably don’t like him; they believe that he destroyed the USSR and allowed oligarchs to come to power. And the idea that the foundations for the economic crisis were formed during the seventy-year rule of the communists no longer occurs to many people today. They are rather ready to judge this way: during whose reign this or that event happened, he is to blame.

But history places all the signs in its own way, and Yeltsin will give it a plus. Because the highest virtue of a statesman is the ability to take responsibility at critical moments in the history of his country. Boris Yeltsin possessed this virtue to a high degree. He rarely made decisions, and they were difficult for him, but at the right moments in the rapid development of events, he always chose the right decisions. Regardless of whether anyone liked them or not.

Correct not because at such moments decisions are made in accordance with the will of the majority, but because a person has an instinct and a correct assessment of the situation.

He made an unpopular but correct decision to transition to a market economy; he decided to entrust this to Yegor Gaidar and his team. Today we are reaping the fruits of his hard and thankless work. The same applies to the collapse of the USSR, the events in October 1993, when Soviet power was ended. Now everyone thinks that it was then that democracy suffered a defeat. But democracy in Russia is just beginning, and it would be impossible to shift all responsibility for this onto Yeltsin alone. All Russian citizens need to work on this.

“Maybe after death, as is customary in Rus', they will truly appreciate him.”

Anatoly CHUBAIS, Chairman of the Board of RAO UES of Russia :

- A very difficult event. It’s just humanly difficult. Although the scale of a person is such that we need to talk not about the personal, but about the country. I believe that Boris Nikolaevich did the absolutely impossible. He led us from unfreedom to freedom. From a country in which lies were simply everyday and universal - from the General Secretary of the Central Committee to any meeting, to a country that is trying to live by the truth.

If you try to understand which figures in the history of Russia are comparable to Boris Nikolaevich in terms of the volume of work done, perhaps Peter the Great. Maybe Lenin and Stalin combined, only both with a minus sign, and he with a plus sign.

And all this, of course, was passed through myself. Nobody knows what it cost him. Except, perhaps, Naina Iosifovna, Tatyana, the closest people who are in grief today.

He went through universal love and almost complete misunderstanding. Maybe after death, as is customary in Rus', they will truly appreciate him. I'd like to believe it.

“He never changed his beliefs”

Leonid Kuchma, ex-president of Ukraine:

— I have always considered Boris Nikolaevich my comrade-in-arms and like-minded person. Boris Yeltsin stood at the origins of the struggle for a new Russia, was one of those noble and courageous people whose activities contributed to the appearance of independent Russia on the world map. We have felt his support all these years. Together with us, he rejoiced at our successes and experienced our hardships as if they were his own. He never betrayed his convictions and firmly and consistently defended the high ideals of freedom and democracy.

“He was the first president, and doing the best is very difficult.”

Stanislav Shushkevich, former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus :

“I saw in him a Russian man who, perhaps, sometimes allowed himself some liberties, but never lost his head. I justify many of Yeltsin’s actions, which some condemn. For example, his actions in taming parliament in 1993. Because I understood why this was being done. These were very correct actions. I am very sad about his death. Although I haven’t had any contact with him for a long time. And it seems to me that what many people in Russia say, that a lot of things didn’t work out because he didn’t act in the best way, then, I would say: he was the first president, and it’s very difficult to do the best. I really regret that he died so early.

“Many people came into politics thanks to him, and Putin too”

Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, ex-president of Georgia:

- I think Boris Nikolaevich sincerely loved and respected Georgia. I remember that a few weeks after the start of the war in Abkhazia (August 1992 - Ed .), on his initiative, the leaders of the republics of the North Caucasus, myself and the then leader of Abkhazia, Vladislav Ardzinba, gathered in Moscow. Then we agreed that the war was over. Yeltsin sincerely wanted to help us in this, and it was not his fault that the war continued. Abkhazian separatists and some Russian generals who supported the Abkhazians violated this agreement.

In general, we have known Yeltsin since the 1970s. Boris Nikolaevich came to Georgia both when he was the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee of the CPSU, and already when he became the president of Russia. We met and discussed. Well, as it should be with us, there was bread and salt, concerts, songs. Yeltsin was very fond of Georgian culture and art. He knew personally many of our artists - theater and cinema. He was a very extraordinary person, a brave politician. He did so much for Russia. Many people came into politics thanks to him, and Putin too. His death is a great loss.

"We will miss him"

George Bush Sr., former US President:

- No one should ever forget about the courage of Boris Yeltsin at the moment when he spoke out in Moscow against the putschists in order to save President Gorbachev, and, in fact, to save Russia’s progress towards democracy. Yeltsin was a powerful leader, and when working with him there was always the feeling that you knew exactly where Boris stood, where the Soviet Union stood. Barbara and I respected him and considered him and his charming wife Naina good friends. Yeltsin was endowed with an excellent sense of humor. We treated him with sympathy, we will miss him and we send our prayers and sincere affection to his family and friends, especially Naina.

"It was a specific person"

Lech Walesa, former President of Poland:

- I met Yeltsin personally many times, and I really have the best memories of him. This was a specific person who made serious decisions seriously. Yeltsin did not just denounce the Union Treaty in Belovezhskaya Pushcha in December 1991, it was a step that made it possible for the former Soviet republics to enter a new era peacefully and without military conflicts. Europe and the whole world should be grateful to him for this.

A great man and a great citizen of his country, who was ahead of his time, has died.

“With wise determination he introduced Russia into the community of free peoples”

Helmut Kohl, ex-Chancellor of Germany:

— It is impossible to overestimate his services in strengthening Russian-German relations and world peace. Over the years, I enjoyed working with Yeltsin and know with what courage, passion and wise determination he brought Russia into the community of free peoples. I recall with great pleasure the numerous humanly cordial and politically valuable meetings, during which he proved himself to be a reliable partner and faithful friend of the Germans.

"The leader of the nation has left"

Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus:

— The leader of the nation in the full sense of the word, a true patriot of his country, an outstanding statesman, whose soul was rooting for Russia and its people, has passed away. Belarusians will forever keep in their hearts the memory of Boris Nikolaevich - a true friend and great politician, with whose name the most significant and memorable pages in the development of union relations between the Belarusian and Russian peoples are associated.

“He served his country during a time of great change.”

George Bush, US President:

-- Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. President Yeltsin was a historical figure who served his country during a time of great change. Yeltsin played a key role as the Soviet Union collapsed and helped lay the foundations for freedom in Russia, becoming the first democratically elected president in that country's history. We express our sincere condolences to the Yeltsin family and the Russian people.