Russian officials and foreign dignitaries are paying their last respects to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin at a funeral mass in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox mass was held in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Dignitaries from around the world attended the mass, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush, ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and Britain's former Prime Minister John Major.
Thousands of mourners filed past Yeltsin's open coffin at the cathedral on April 24 and throughout today, many clutching flowers and weeping.
In interviews with RFE/RL's Russian Service, mourners praised Yeltsin for bringing down the Soviet regime.
"I remember the year 1991. He gave us the feeling that we were human beings. That's the most important thing," one mourner said.
Some of Yeltsin's former rivals put past grievances behind them and came to pay their respects.
Aleksandr Rutskoi, a former Russian vice president and one of Yeltsin's chief opponents during the 1993 political crisis, spoke to Reuters today outside the cathedral.
"I feel sorry for Boris Nikolayevich [Yeltsin] because I have always liked him as a human being and I still do, because he had all the qualities of a good person. As for the past political situation, that is history and you can't escape it," Rutskoi said.
Mixed Legacy
Christ the Savior Cathedral is a highly symbolic choice for the man who dismantled the Soviet Union.
The edifice was blown up by dictator Josef Stalin and the site was used as a swimming pool until Yeltsin ordered its reconstruction after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
There are mixed feelings among Russians about Yeltsin's legacy.
Many Russians blame him for plunging the country into chaos and giving away Russia's riches to a well-connected few.
In a poll conducted by the Levada Center last December, 70 percent of respondents said the Yeltsin era did more harm than good.
Unlike most Kremlin leaders who were laid to rest on Red Square, Yeltsin will be buried later today at Moscow's historic Novodevichy cemetery alongside eminent Russian writers, composers, and scientists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin's handpicked successor, has declared April 25 a day of mourning. Flags across the country are flying at half mast and some television programs have been cancelled.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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