Hundreds of Russians paid their last respect to the late former president Boris Yeltsin on Tuesday in a prestigious church in central Moscow, ahead of the funeral slated for Wednesday.

Flowers in hands and queued in lines, Russians mourned the first president of the country covered by the national flag and lying in an open coffin placed in the central hall of the Christ the Savior cathedral.

His families, including his wife Naina Yeltsin, 75, sit beside the casket and were in tears.

Died of heart failure on Monday at 76, Yeltsin is survived by Naina, two daughters, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The state, started in the afternoon, lasted till Tuesday night.

His once counterparts or rivals such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev were expected to attend the funeral scheduled at noon, Wednesday.

Russian President and Yelstin's successor Vladimir Putin has declared April 25 a day of national mourning for him, who will be buried at Moscow's historic Novodevichye cemetery.