Title: Ex-Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin Dies - CBS News
Headings: Ex-Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin Dies
Ex-Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin Dies
Content: But as the years passed, he increasingly concentrated power in his own hands. And when there was trouble, he frequently resorted to force to quell dissent, claiming only an iron hand could keep the country together. He sent tanks and troops in October 1993 to flush armed hard-liners out of a hostile Parliament after violence in the streets of Moscow. And in December 1994, Yeltsin launched the first of two of Russia's wars against separatists in the southern republic of Chechnya, conflicts that would turn the Chechen capital of Grozny into a wasteland and cost the lives of tens of thousands. Sometimes, Yeltsin seemed overwhelmed by his responsibilities. Viktor Chernomyrdin, one of his prime ministers, said Monday that Yeltsin's health never recovered from the stress of trying to steer Russia through some of its darkest hours. "Yeltsin headed the country during the most difficult time and it could not but affect the health of even such a strong man," said Chernomyrdin, now Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. Admirers contend that it was the trauma of the USSR's death throes, not Yeltsin's leadership, that brought Russia to the brink. "If not for the strong will of Boris Nikolayevich, we cannot rule out that after Gorbachev, Russia could have plunged — for many, many years or even decades — into civil war," said Vyacheslav Kostikov, a former Yeltsin press secretary. In the final years of his presidency, Yeltsin was dogged by health problems and often seemed out of touch.