(23 Apr 2007) HEADLINE: Boris Yeltsin dead at 76
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CAPTION: Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 76. (April 23)
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[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]
HE WAS RUSSIA'S FIRST FREELY ELECTED PRESIDENT...A MAN CHARGED WITH ENGINEERING THE FINAL COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION.
BUT WHILE BORIS YELTSIN PUSHED THE FORMER COMMUNIST NATION TOWARD DEMOCRACY...HE WAS UNABLE TO MAKE GOOD ON HIS PLEDGE TO FIGHT CORRUPTION...PROVING UNABLE...OR UNWILLING...TO PREVENT THE LOOTING OF STATE INDUSTRY AS IT MOVED INTO PRIVATE HANDS.
SOME SAY YELTSIN DAMAGED HIS OWN DEMOCRATIC CREDENTIALS BY USING FORCE TO SOLVE THE NATION'S POLITICAL DISPUTES.
IN 19-93...HE SENT TROOPS AND TANKS TO FLUSH HARD-LINE SUPPORTERS OUT OF RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT AFTER THEY SPARKED VIOLENCE IN THE STREETS OF MOSCOW.
A YEAR LATER....YELSTIN LAUNCHED A WAR AGAINST SEPARATISTS IN THE SOUTHERN REPUBLIC OF CHECHNYA. THE WAR TOOK TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES....AND SOLVED NOTHING. A HUMILIATED RUSSIAN ARMY WITHDREW IN '96.
FIGHTING RESUMED THREE YEARS LATER...AND WAS THOUGHT TO BE DRIVEN BY PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR PUTIN, WHO BECAME PRESIDENT WHEN YELTSIN RESIGNING ON NEW YEAR'S EVE 19-99.
BUT YELSTIN WAS NOT WITHOUT HIS ACHIEVEMENTS....HE INTRODUCED SEVERAL BASIC TENETS OF DEMOCRACY, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH, PRIVATE PROPERTY AND MULTI-PARTY ELECTIONS.
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, THE LAST SOVIET PRESIDENT, REFERRED TO YELTSIN AS ONE "ON WHOSE SHOULDERS ARE BOTH GREAT DEEDS FOR THE COUNTRY AND SERIOUS ERRORS."
YELTSIN IS SURVIVED BY HIS WIFE, TWO DAUGHTERS AND SEVERAL GRANDCHILDREN. HE WAS 76-YEARS-OLD.
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