Boris Yeltsin 1931-2007

June 1 1991: Yeltsin on the campaign trail as he bids to become Russia's first elected president Photograph: Reuters/Corbis

August 19 1991: Yeltsin stands on top of tank in front of the White House, the seat of the Russian parliament. He invited the army to break from the 1991 coup and this image remains the high point of his career Photograph: Diane-Lu Hovasse/AFP

April 6 1992: Boris Yeltsin listens to deputies during the afternoon session of the first day of the Congress of People's Deputies in Moscow. He was told by deputies that he alone must account for the government reforms, which one of them called 'economic genocide'. Photograph: Vassili Korneyev/AFP

January 13, 1994: The US president, Bill Clinton, plays the saxophone, which was presented to him by Yeltsin during a private dinner at the Russian president's Dacha Photograph: Bob McNeeley/AP

September 30 1994: An aircraft carrying Yeltsin waits on the tarmac at Shannon airport. The Russian president was too ill to attend a meeting with the Irish prime minister, Albert Reynolds, and remained on the plane as his deputy took his place Photograph: Martin McCullough/PA

March 27 1995: Boris Yeltsin waves goodbye to his entourage under the watchful eye of a conductor as his train leaves the station after a visit to Ryazan Photograph: Alexander Natruskin/AFP

October 1995: Clinton laughs at Yeltsin's jokes during a joint news conference in Hyde Park, New York Photograph: Wally McNamee/Corbis

April 5 1996: Yeltsin lays a wreath during a ceremony at the place of World War II's biggest tank battle at Prohorovka in the Belgorod district Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

June 10, 1996: Yeltsin dances at a rock concert in Rostov Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

October 11 1998: Uzbekistan president Islam Karimov supports Yeltsin during an official ceremony in the presidential residence outside Tashkent, Uzbekistan Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

August 9 1999: Boris Yeltsin before a TV address in Moscow Photograph: Itar -Tass/EPA

December 31 1999: Yeltsin's resignation broadcast on Millennium Eve Photograph: Vauthey Pierre/Corbis

May 9 2000: Former president Boris Yeltsin wipes his eye during a parade on Red Square as Russia marked the 55th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany. Photograph: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

February 28 2006: Yeltsin smiles and waves during his visit to the Virchow Hospital Centre in Berlin Photograph: Miguel Villagran/EPA