[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E877]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              REMEMBERING RUSSIAN PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2007

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, with the passing of 
former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the world lost a truly heroic 
leader. President Yeltsin was instrumental in placing Soviet Communism 
on the ash heap of history, fulfilling the vision of Ronald Reagan for 
victory in the Cold War by liberating Russia for its citizens to 
benefit from freedom and democracy.
  The words of Vladimir Simonov, political commentator for the Russian 
News and Information Agency Novosti, in the article He Did It His Way 
memorialize President Yeltsin well.

                    Boris Yeltsin: He Did It His Way

       Moscow.--President Bush sees Boris Yeltsin as a historic 
     figure who served his country at a time of great change.
       Prime Minister Tony Blair recalls the Russian leader as an 
     outstanding statesman who realized how much Russia needed 
     democratic and economic reforms.
       Javier Solana, a European Union official and former 
     secretary-general of NATO, thinks that Yeltsin displayed 
     incredible foresight and courage when he decided to sign a 
     hitherto unthinkable agreement on Russian cooperation with 
     the North Atlantic alliance in the early 1990s.
       These statements could be summed up in the following words, 
     which the West could write on a wreath to lay at the grave of 
     Russia's first elected president: ``We are grateful to you 
     for creating a Russia that no longer scares us.'' In other 
     words, Yeltsin made Russia look normal in the eyes of the 
     civilized world.
       He gave his people three simple, fundamental rights that 
     citizens of civilized countries have enjoyed for a long time. 
     Under Yeltsin, Russians received the opportunity to say what 
     they thought, elect who they liked to major posts, and own 
     private property, be it a house in the Moscow suburbs or a 
     villa in Nice, although the majority could buy the latter 
     only in theory.
       Having embarked on the path of democracy and the market 
     economy, no matter how awful it seemed to some initially, the 
     mysterious and dangerous communist controlled Russia turned 
     into a sensible and understandable country. Russians became 
     more like Westerners. Perhaps at that moment, when 
     differences were swept away, the Cold War came to an end. 
     Credit for this historic accomplishment largely goes to 
     Yeltsin as well.
       By the end of his eight-year-long rule, Boris Yeltsin had 
     lost the admiration of his compatriots. His popularity in 
     Russia, but not in the West, had gone down. Well-to-do 
     analysts watching events in Russia from afar thought that 
     nothing tragic was happening. To be more precise, they 
     believed that Russia had to go through its ordeals like any 
     country undergoing a great change.
       The West shares our grief because it also understands the 
     greatness of the late Russian president. After all, it was 
     Yeltsin who buried communism and made Russia part of the free 
     world. In history textbooks he will always be remembered as a 
     giant Russian standing on a tank, the man who prevented his 
     country's return to the gloomy era of totalitarianism.
       Frank Sinatra once sang ``I did it my way.'' The same words 
     can be applied to Yeltsin. He did it his way, and both Russia 
     and the West are grateful to him for choosing freedom.

                          ____________________