Kremlin says former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died

Boris Yeltsin, who engineered the final collapse of the Soviet Union and became the country's first post-Communist president, has died at 76, a Kremlin official said Monday. Kremlin spokesman Alexander Smirnov gave no cause of death.

Yeltsin initially was admired abroad for his embrace of democracy and a market economy. However, many Russians will remember him for the steep decline of their nation during his tenure, including the looting of state industry as it moved into private hands and Russia's forced pullout from Chechnya, after an unsuccessful war with separatist rebels. (AP)