Boris Yeltsin has died

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Mr. Garfield been shot down shot down shot down, Mr. Garfield been shot down lowwwww

Former President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, has died, a Kremlin official said Monday. He was 76.

Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov confirmed Yeltsin's death, but gave no cause or further information. The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified medical source as saying he had died of heart failure.

Although Yeltsin pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, many of its citizens will remember him mostly for presiding over the country's steep decline.

He was a contradictory figure, rocketing to popularity in the Communist era on pledges to fight corruption — but proving unable, or unwilling, to prevent the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands during his nine years as Russia's first freely elected president

[DarkStar50 679]

Although I lived through all the things Yeltzin did, my first thought was: Hmm, what line was he on?

[kosydar 0]

I took a class last quarter that focused on the mafia and its rise during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yeltsin was definitely an interesting character.