Boris Yeltsin

Russia's former President Boris Yeltsin gestures as he attends a Davis Cup semifinal tennis match in Moscow, Sept. 22, 2006. Yeltsin, who hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union by scrambling atop a tank to rally the opposition against a hard-line coup and later pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy, died of heart failure Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76.

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin attends a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Presidential Regiment in the Kremlin in Moscow, May 7, 2006. Yeltsin, who pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy as the country's first post-Communist president, died of heart failure Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and several grandchildren.

President Boris Yeltsin sits at his desk at the Barvikha sanitorium outside Moscow, Thursday, Dec. 11, 1997. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet president, summed up the complexity of Yeltsin's legacy in a condolence statement minutes after the death was announced. He referred to Yeltsin as one "on whose shoulders are both great deeds for the country and serious errors."

President Boris Yeltsin gestures as he announces he has canceled a ceremony awarding state prizes at the Kremlin in Moscow in this Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1997 photo. Yeltsin steadfastly defended freedom of the press, but was a master at manipulating the media.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, smiles before addressing a combined session of the parliament in a nationally televised speech in Moscow March 6, 1997.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, recovering from a multiple heart bypass operation, takes tea with his wife Naina, right, and granddaughter Masha, left, in his private rooms at the Central clinic hospital in Moscow, Nov. 15, 1996.

Boris Yeltsin Dies — AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Russian President Boris Yeltsin dances at a rock concert after arriving in Rostov, Russia, June 10, 1996.

President Bill Clinton, left, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin talk as they look over the Hudson Valley behind Franklin Roosevelt's Hyde Park home in Hyde Park, N.Y., Oct. 23, 1995. The leaders were meeting at the Roosevelt home a day after they addressed the 50th anniversary session of the United Nations. Yeltsin, who pushed Russia to embrace democracy died Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin acknowledges the greetings of hockey fans gathered to watch the Izvestia Cup hockey tournament final game between two Russian teams December 21, 1993. Yelstin had just made a public decree dissolving the former KGB and creating a new counter intelligence unit. Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union died Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, surrounded by his supporters, raises a clenched fist acknowledging the cheers of some 70,000 demonstrators who gathered in Moscow's Red Square March 28, 1993. Yeltsin made a stunning debut as Russian president. He introduced many basics of democracy, guaranteeing the rights to free speech, private property and multiparty elections, and opening the borders to trade and travel.

Former President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin are shown as they ride in a golf cart at Camp David, Md. in this February 1, 1992 photo.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin is shown as he shakes hands with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in this Dec. 20, 1991 photo. The first freely elected leader of Russia, Yeltsin was initially admired abroad for his defiance of the monolithic Communist system. But many Russians will remember him mostly for presiding over the steep decline of their nation.

Russia's President Boris Yeltsin waves a national flag from a balcony before a crowd of about 10,000 jubilant supporters celebrating the end of the three-day coup attempt by communist hard liners in Moscow Aug. 22, 1991. Yeltsin amassed as much power as possible in his office -- then gave it all up in a dramatic New Year's address at the end of 1999.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, left, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl listen to the Russian anthem in honor of Yeltsin's arrival in Bonn, Germany on November 4, 1991.

Boris Yeltsin is shown with clenched fists as he led a group of anti-government protestors who parade through the Red Square after an official military parade ended in this Nov. 7, 1990 photo. Yeltsin's hand-picked successor, Vladimir Putin, has proven far more popular even as he has tightened Kremlin control over both Russia's industry and its press.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, is shown as he shakes hands with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic at the Kremlin in this October 15, 1991 photo. Yeltsin 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 in power.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin tries on a cowboy hat given to him by Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole June 19, 1991, in Washington.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin addresses a military parade on Victory Day in Moscow May 9, 1999. Yeltsin spearheaded the peaceful end of the Soviet state on Dec. 25, 1991.

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, right, shakes hands with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and thanks him for meeting with the Russian People's Deputies at the Russian Federation building, Aug. 23, 1991. This was Gorbachev's first meeting with them since the coup. Yeltsin spearheaded the peaceful end of the Soviet state on Dec. 25, 1991.

Boris Yeltsin in an undated file photo. Yeltsin, the former Russian president who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and pushed Russia to embrace democracy and a market economy died Monday, April 23, 2007. He was 76.