MOSCOW (AP) - Boris Yeltsin, who kicked the props out from under the tottering Soviet empire and then struggled to build a nation from its wreckage, died yesterday after seeing many of his democratic reforms rolled back. The former Russian president was 76.

Larger than life during his tenure, Yeltsin shrank from public view following his retirement on New Year's Eve 1999, and in recent years has rarely given interviews. But the big, bumptious politician with the soft pink features and wave of white hair could be seen again yesterday in file footage on Russian television.Read this article in full with a
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