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Medvedev unveils Yeltsin statue
Feb 1, 2011, 9:53 GMT
Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised the country's first post-Soviet leader, Boris Yeltsin, as a 'brave and determined leader' on Tuesday.
Present-day Russia had a lot to thank Yelstin for, the president said in unveiling a statue to the deceased leader in Yekaterinburg, near Yeltsin's Urals hometown of Butka.
'Present-day Russia should be grateful to president Yeltsin for the fact that, in our most difficult period, we did not sway from the path of change,' Medvedev said, according to Russian news agencies.
Yeltsin, who would have turned 80 on Tuesday, presided over Russia from 1991-99. He was succeeded by Vladimir Putin
While many praised him as a champion of democratic reforms, he has also been criticized for impoverishing millions of Russians.
Yeltsin of heart failure at the age of 76 in April 2007.
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