Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday former leader Boris Yeltsin made many mistakes but gave Russia freedom.
Speaking during a meeting with supporters in Moscow, Putin said Yeltsin, the man behind his rise to power, had a “hard life.” Yeltsin, Russia's first post-Communist president, died of heart failure in 2007.
“The presidency is not a job, it’s a fate,” he said, admitting that Boris Yeltsin had “certain problems” when it came to drinking.
Putin is planning to have a go at the presidency himself again. Despite rising discontent, he is widely predicted to win next month’s presidential election.
“There were mistakes [during Yeltsin’s presidency]. But he did a lot in the sense that he gave [people] freedom. This is very important,” Putin said.
In a newspaper article on Monday, Putin said Yeltsin’s rule saw “a crisis of responsible political thinking.”
“In the 1990s, we were faced with anarchy and oligarchy,” he wrote.