Boris Yeltsin, first president of Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, died on Monday at age 76. National Review Online asked David Satter, of Hoover, Hudson, and Johns Hopkins, and author of most recently, of Darkness at Dawn: the Rise of the Russian Criminal State, about Yeltsin’s legacy.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Was Yeltsin a hero or a villain?

David Satter: Actually he was both. His role in the fall of the Soviet Union was immense and he showed great physical courage at the time of the August, 1991 coup by Soviet hardliners seeking to preserve the Soviet Union. The KGB Alpha group had been given orders to attack the headquarters of the Russian parliament where Yeltsin had his headquarters. Had they obeyed those orders, Yeltsin could easily have been killed.

At the same time, however, after the Soviet Union had fallen, Yeltsin did more than anyone else to doom Russian democracy. In 1993, he ordered an attack on the Russian parliament that had supported him in August, 199. He also began a senseless war in Chechnya largely for political reasons and presided over the criminalization of the country. The anger that this inspired led him to rely increasingly on the support of the security services. Putin was his handpicked successor.

Lopez: What was his greatest moment?

Satter: Undoubtedly, the moment, he got up on a tank in front of the Russian parliament building on August 19, 1991, and urged Soviet citizens to resist the coup. The coup leaders were hesitant and lacking in confidence and his act galvanized resistance to a Communist revanche. Thousands of Muscovites converged on the “white house” as it was called determined to defend the liberal reforms of perestroika. Army units ordered into Moscow to defend the coup became unreliable and the attempt to turn back the clock of history collapsed.

Lopez: Greatest flaw?

Satter: Yeltsin never lost the mentality of a local Communist Party boss. He was confrontational, prized sycophancy in his subordinates and instinctively sought to resolve disagreements by force. These habits were not a fatal disadvantage when it came to fighting against the Soviet system. They were fatal when it came to building democracy.

Lopez: Who meant more to the fall of the Soviet Union: Gorbachev or Yeltsin?

Satter: Probably Gorbachev. Both made an important contribution but the idea to begin the reforms was Gorbachev’s. Glasnost and the exposure of the crimes of Stalin took place while Yeltsin was still in political oblivion. After that, the magical spell of the ideology was broken. The regime had lost the mandate of heaven and its collapse was only a matter of time.

Lopez: What brand of vodka did he drink? Was that his greatest flaw?)

Satter: I don’t know what brand of vodka he drank but under Yeltsin, the government removed all restrictions on the sale of vodka and it began to be sold at rock-bottom prices while the price of everything else skyrocketed. Some saw this as an attempt to tranquilize the population so there would be no resistance to market reforms. Yeltsin himself was a heavy drinker and this led to many embarrassing scenes. Nonetheless, it was an inability to understand that democracy is impossible without the rule of law and not alcohol that was his greatest flaw.

Lopez: Who out there can be inspired by bits of Yeltsin’s example today?

Satter: If we’re talking about Russia, it’s possible that Yeltsin’s stand against the August 1991 coup plotters can still be of some educative value. One of the great problems in Russia is that the population is passive and fatalistic. Many believe that it is impossible to defend one’s rights but, on August 19, 1991, Yeltsin demonstrated that it is possible to resist those in power.

Lopez: When you look at Russia today, where did it go most wrong after Yeltsin?

Satter: Yeltsin was succeeded by the head of the FSB, a man who had made his career in the KGB, was virtually unknown and had never run for office. I think everything bad about the post-Yeltsin era stems from that.

Lopez: Anything Putin in particular should remember about Yeltsin?

Satter: Putin should bear in mind that only the rule of law can guarantee genuine political stability. Unfortunately, this is a lesson he is not likely to learn.

Lopez: How should history remember Yeltsin?

Satter: As a typical Soviet boss with atypical energy and dedication whom circumstances put in a position to accomplish a great historic task but who foundered when it was a question of creating something on his own.