Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin was laid to rest today in Moscow. Yeltsin was the first democratically elected leader of Russia. He helped bring about many reforms for his countrymen, and yet he was not beloved by all. He and Bill Clinton had a mostly love (but sometimes testy) relationship while both were in office.
Miulang
The ceremony was the first full Orthodox funeral for a Russian leader since the burial of Czar Alexander III in St. Petersburg in 1894.
The service and burial were attended by President Vladimir Putin, the Russian cabinet, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and numerous foreign dignitaries, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and Lech Walesa, the Polish trade unionist who, like Yeltsin, drove a stake into communism.
In the cathedral, a replica of one that was dynamited by Stalin and rebuilt under Yeltsin, the former president lay in an open casket. Mourners paid their respects to the family. Clinton, who had a close if occasionally turbulent relationship with Yeltsin, embraced Naina Yeltsin at length.
The service and burial were attended by President Vladimir Putin, the Russian cabinet, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and numerous foreign dignitaries, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush and Lech Walesa, the Polish trade unionist who, like Yeltsin, drove a stake into communism.
In the cathedral, a replica of one that was dynamited by Stalin and rebuilt under Yeltsin, the former president lay in an open casket. Mourners paid their respects to the family. Clinton, who had a close if occasionally turbulent relationship with Yeltsin, embraced Naina Yeltsin at length.
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