European leaders paid tribute to Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first freely elected, post-communist president, after his death on Monday. Yeltsin played a key role in the collapse of the Soviet Union and introduced free-market democracy to Russia.
"He made a decisive contribution to establishing democracy and a market economy in Russia," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "That is deserving of our respect. He looked towards Europe and made a major contribution to the relations between our two countries and relations between the European Union and Russia."
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had "great respect" for Yeltsin, adding that the former Russian president contributed to "the well-being of the late 20th century."
Solana highlighted in particular Yeltsin's signing of the first Russia-NATO agreement in 1997.
"A true friend of Germany"
