ENI — Religious leaders praised Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, who died in April at age 76, for enabling a religious revival. “Boris Nikolayevich strove to maintain good relations between the state authorities and the Church,” Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church stated.
Sheikh Ravil Gainutdin, the chairman of Russia's Council of Muftis, said Muslims are grateful to Yeltsin for the “law on religion” passed during his tenure. Yeltsin was unpopular, however, with many Russian Muslims due to the protracted war in Chechnya.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, leader of Russia's Roman Catholics, said that the fact that religious services are held daily across the country after decades of being banned are “living witness of the benign rule” under the former president.
