Yeltsin comments

Here are a couple of insightful assessments of Boris Yeltsin. Anne Applebaum, foreign affairs writer and Washington Post columnist, sees Yeltsin as a transitional figure (though given that he picked Putin one has to wonder what he was a transition to). Masha Gessen, listed by TNR as a Moscow journalist, sees him as Russia's first and last true democrat, but ultimately something of a tragic figure, especially in light of what has followed his presidency.