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 Dmitry Medvedev of Russia arrived in Yekaterinburg to attend the opening ceremony of a monument to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, who today would have turned 80 years old.

Russian media outlets report that the monument was erected on the street named in honor to Boris Yeltsin, the presidential center which is under construction near the center, also bears his name.
“Present-day Russia should be grateful to president Yeltsin for the fact that, in our most difficult period, we did not sway from the path of change,” Medvedev, speaking on what would have been Yeltsin’s 80th birthday, also said.

“He was a genuine leader,” he added. “He was very brave and never compromised on even insignificant, let alone significant, issues.”

According to the author of the work, the sculptor Georgy Frangulyan, the monument is composed of several pieces of marble weighing 15 tons each.

The monuments height is about 10 meters. "This monument is not an obelisk, but a boulder in motion, which was Boris Nikolaevich, explained Frangulyan. During his visit to the Sverdlovsk region, President Medvedev will hold a meeting of the Presidential Council for the Promotion of Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights.