Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin - the man credited with bringing down the Soviet Union - has died aged 76.

In 1988, two years after being transferred to a top job in Moscow, he quit the Soviet politburo. Soon afterwards, he shocked communists as he was elected to parliament.

In August 1991, a failed coup by hardliners served him well as he proceeded to discredit the Soviet system.

And he did not stop the offensive - and a meteoric rise to national leadership - even though the target was none other than his former benefactor, Mikhail Gorbachev.

The strong man of Russian politics knew exactly what he wanted next: he banned the Communist Party and by the end of the year the Soviet Union had broken apart.

So the first elected leader of Russia as a Soviet republic became president of a newly-independent successor state to the USSR.

Soon, Russia's Boris Yeltsin emerged onto the world stage as a new player, though one who caused some Russians embarrassment.

During his energetic campaigning for re-election in 1996, he suffered a heart attack, leading to a quintuple heart bypass operation.

Erratic behaviour - some say a result of too much drink - led to a drop in popularity. He resigned in 1999 after presiding over a second military intervention in Chechnya.

Largely out of sight since then, he is nonetheless remembered fondly by some Russians - as others accuse him of undermining Russian prestige.