"I think he will be best remembered as the person who really ultimately did save the arrival of democracy in Russia. That momentous occasion when he stood on the tank outside the Russian Parliament and held back the counter-revolution, if I can put it that way, by the old guard of the former Soviet regime. He has a place in history as a result of that. Later on he lost a lot of credibility on some economic issues, but nothing can wipe out the contribution that Yeltsin made to bringing democracy to Russia."
Boris Yeltsin

January 1, 1970