Russia bid a solemn farewell Wednesday to Boris Yeltsin, its first post-Soviet leader, in a funeral presided over by some two dozen white-robed priests, with and a crowd of dignitaries including President Vladimir Putin and two former US leaders in attendance.
Captain Morgan led the troops past the reviewing stand and Johnny Walker read the eulogy.| Jack Daniels and Jimmy Beam were too broken up to attend |
Before the funeral, more than 20,000 people had filed through the gold-domed Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow to view the body of Yeltsin, who died Monday at age 76.
They filed by in Absolut silence.
After the viewing ended, dignitaries including former US presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush arrived and offered condolences to Yeltsin's black-clad widow Naina. | And his dear Old Granddad. |
Many of the mourners said they admired Yeltsin for breaking the grip of monolithic Communism and moving the country toward full-fledged democracy - and said they fear his successor Vladimir Putin is reversing the progress. "I came here to pay respect to Boris Nikolayevich for everything he has given us: freedom and the opportunity to realize ourselves," said 73-year-old Svetlana Zamishlayeva. But now, she said, "there is a certain retreat from freedom of the press, from fair elections, from all kinds of freedom." |