Uzbek President Islam Karimov has offered his condolences to Vladimir Putin and the Russian people on the death of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, the Uzbek presidential press service said.

"Uzbekistan learnt with grief the news of the untimely death of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin," Islam Karimov says in his message to the Russian president. "Great experience, knowledge, openness and a sense of duty and responsibility for the fate of Russia were distinct qualities of Boris Nikolayevich, and he gained due respect both in Russia and abroad," the document says.  

The message stresses that "the name of Boris Nikolayevich is linked to a new stage in the formation of the independent state of Russia, and fundamental changes and reforms have taken place in the country, which paved the way for freedoms and democracy".  

Islam Karimov on behalf of the Uzbek people and himself personally expressed his "deep condolences" and asked the Russian authorities to pass "his words of sincere sympathy to Boris Nikolayevich’s relatives and friends as well as to the Russian people".