Vladimir Putin, Russian President:

"He was the first Russian President. With this title he has forever entered the history of the country and the whole world. A man passed away thanks to whom a whole new epoch was born. New democratic Russia was born, a free state open to the world. The state in which power truly belongs to the people. We will do everything so that the memory of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, his noble thoughts, his words ’protect Russia’ always serve us as moral and political guidelines."

President Bush:

"He played a key role as the Soviet Union dissolved, helped lay the foundations of freedom in Russia and became the first democratically elected leader in that country’s history."

Boris Berezovsky, former Kremlin insider and Yeltsin ally:

"I have lost my mentor and Russia has lost the greatest reformer in all its history."

Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet President:

“I express the very deepest condolences to the family of the deceased on whose shoulders rest major events for the good of the country and serious mistakes. A tragic fate.”

Lady Thatcher, former British Prime Minister:

“Without Boris Yeltsin, Russia would have remained in the grip of Communism and the Baltic states would not be free. He deserves to be honoured as a patriot and liberator.”

Anatoly Chubais, former Chief-of-Staff to Yeltsin:

“I consider Boris Nikolayevich did the absolute impossible. He brought us to freedom from a lack of freedom. From a country where lies were daily and everywhere... to a country which is trying to live in truth. If you try to understand what figures in Russian history are comparable to Boris Nikolayevich by the amount achieved then perhaps you could compare him to Peter the Great, or perhaps to Lenin and Stalin together, though both must have the negative sign whereas what he (Yeltsin achieved) was with a positive sign."

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