The former president of Russia – the first to be democratically elected after the fall of the Soviet Union – died yesterday at the age of 76. Here’s what a few pundits had to say about this often contradictory political figure.

Nikolas Gvosdev compares Yeltsin to former U.S. president Ulysses Grant: “Both men were heroes with alcoholic reputations when they became presidents of their respective countries (the difference being that Grant had saved his Union via bloodshed while Yeltsin had dismantled his peacefully) but who left office after two terms under the clouds of scandal and corruption.”

Jack Matlock, former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, says that to truly understand Yeltsin, it helps to look back at the early years of his political years before his rise to prominence. Then, he was known to bust shop managers for hording supplies to sell on the black market.

Anne Applebaum says Yeltsin’s 1987 speech at the 70th anniversary celebration of the Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent resignation for the Communist Party made a name for him as a reformer. But certain actions as president undermined the image he had cultivated earlier.

David Satter thinks Yeltsin's legacy is that of opportunities lost, as the years of criminality under his rule paved the way for a descent back into authoritarianism under current Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Washington Post believes the image of Yeltsin that will be most remembered will be of the former president standing on a tank in front of the Russian parliament, defying a 1991 coup by Soviet defenders.