Dubai: Russians living in the UAE have given a mixed verdict on the achievements of their former President Boris Yeltsin.
While his political management during an unstable period has been hailed by some, his erratic behaviour and decision to invade Chechnya have come in for criticism.
Lawyer Boris Jernakov, 47, who runs Dubai-based Jernakov Legal Consultants, said he had "contradictory" feelings about Yeltsin.
Jernakov said he was pleased when Yeltsin initially took power in 1991, but felt things went wrong in the years that followed.
Drunk
"He should have left two years before [the time he stepped down]. He spent two years in hospital and two years drunk. It was clear that he could not run the country. He thought he could do it in one or two hours a day," he said.
Dr Vladimir Karamochine, 39, a Dubai-based cardiologist who has lived in the UAE for five years, praised Yeltsin, who led Russia for eight years, as "a strong and good person".
"It was very difficult to manage at that time and he tried to consolidate things and prevent political instability," he said.
However, Karamochine said Yeltsin's decision to order troops into Chechnya to prevent the province from seceding from Russia, was "a mistake".
While describing Yeltsin as "a very good man", commercial manager Alexander Smetamin, 28, who is based in Sharjah, said the former president's dissolution of the Soviet Union caused many problems.
"He signed the agreement to destroy the USSR [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics] and create the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States]."
