From: "John Beamish" 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6584481.stm

Russian ex-president Yeltsin dies

Boris Yeltsin, who oversaw the Soviet Union's demise and became Russia's
first president, has died aged 76, the Kremlin says.

Mr Yeltsin - who had a history of heart trouble - died unexpectedly, of
heart failure, in hospital.

He came to power after being promoted by former Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev, a man he then outmanoeuvred.

He won international acclaim as a defender of democracy when in August 1991
he mounted a tank in Moscow.

In what became one of the defining moments of his career, Mr Yeltsin
rallied the people against an attempt to overthrow Mr Gorbachev's era of
glasnost and perestroika.

[snip]

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