Putin vows to maintain free Russia at Yeltsin grave
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his predecessor Boris Yeltsin for bringing freedom to Russia, as he attended a graveside ceremony on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of Yeltsin's death.
Putin's critics accuse him of betraying Yeltsin's legacy by rolling back democratic freedoms, concentrating too much power in his hands and restoring many of the attributes of the Soviet Union that Yeltsin helped overturn.
In a symbolic moment at the memorial ceremony, a military band played a few bars of the national anthem introduced by Yeltsin, then switched to the Soviet melody that Putin reinstated as Russia's official anthem.
Senior Russian officials came to Moscow's elite Novodevichy cemetery for the unveiling of a monument to Yeltsin -- an austere stone sculpture evoking the Russan tricolor flag billowing in the wind.
"This flag is a testimony to the democratic aspirations cherished by our people," Putin told the ceremony. "It is one of the bright symbols of our firm choice in favor of free society and civilized, advanced development."
Yeltsin, who died aged 76, was a Communist leader who rebelled against his party's rule to become the first president of post-Soviet Russia.
His rule was marked by a flowering of freedoms but also economic turmoil and political instability that many Russians credit Putin with reversing.
Yeltsin, frail and unwell, stepped down from the presidency in December 1999 and handed over his powers to a handpicked successor, ex-KGB spy Putin.
Putin, who has since presided over years of uninterrupted economic growth, has often cited the "turmoil of the 1990s" as a contrast to his rule. However, Putin has always referred to Yeltsin with reverence.
"Yeltsin's path is as unique as the fate of our country, which went through unprecedented transformation and difficult turmoil to defend its state and its right for free and independent development," he said.
The first anniversary of Yeltsin's death was marked as an event of national importance.
A street and a university in Yeltsin's home city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains were renamed after him. Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexiy II led a church service at the graveside followed by a parade by guards of honor.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Putin protege who will take over as president on May 7, was also at the ceremony. Putin, stepping down in line with constitutional term limits, said the need for strong presidential power was another lesson taught by Yeltsin.
"Today, we live in an open and independent country which is developing in strict adherence to the letter and the spirit of the constitution," he said.
"Presidential power will always be a guarantor of the basic law and of the citizens' rights, (it) will continue to serve the people of Russia, the nation's sovereign interests," he added.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
