This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/europe/8415441.stm
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Russia reform 'tsar' Gaidar dies | Russia reform 'tsar' Gaidar dies |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Yegor Gaidar, the architect of Russia's market reforms in the 1990s, has died aged 53, his spokesman has said. | Yegor Gaidar, the architect of Russia's market reforms in the 1990s, has died aged 53, his spokesman has said. |
| The spokesman said Mr Gaidar had died of a blood clot. | |
| Mr Gaidar was Russia's acting prime minister in 1992, launching the "shock therapy" reforms after the collapse of the Soviet Union. | Mr Gaidar was Russia's acting prime minister in 1992, launching the "shock therapy" reforms after the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
| Mr Gaidar is credited with carrying out the first wave of privatisations under President Boris Yeltsin. His lifting of price controls was highly unpopular. | Mr Gaidar is credited with carrying out the first wave of privatisations under President Boris Yeltsin. His lifting of price controls was highly unpopular. |
| The policies angered millions of Russians who saw their savings devalued, while prices, which in some cases the government had kept artificially low for decades, suddenly rocketed. | |
| At the beginning of the 1990s, he saved the country from hunger, civil war and collapse Anatoly ChubaisFormer deputy prime minister | |
| Countless jobs were lost in bloated state industries as they struggled to adapt to new economic realities. | |
| Perhaps because of that, Mr Gaidar's reforms are still remembered with loathing by many ordinary people, says the BBC's former Moscow correspondent James Rodgers. | |
| But there is no question that he was a hugely influential figure, he adds. | |
| In his mid-30s when Russia's then-President, Boris Yeltsin, made him acting prime minister, Mr Gaidar was never confirmed in his post. | |
| A parliament which was still dominated by Soviet-era thinking refused to approve his candidacy. | |
| 'Giant figure' | |
| However, his supporters argue that his reforms made Russia's later economic boom possible. | |
| His contemporaries on the liberal wing of Russian politics in the 1990s praise him for taking difficult decisions which, they believe, saved the Russian economy from total disaster. | |
| Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who opposed Mr Gaidar's reforms, said he was personally grieving for his death, but that his policies had faults. | |
| YEGOR GAIDAR June-Dec 1992: Russian acting prime ministerImplemented economic "shock therapy"Director of Institute for the Economy in Transition | YEGOR GAIDAR June-Dec 1992: Russian acting prime ministerImplemented economic "shock therapy"Director of Institute for the Economy in Transition |
| "Gaidar went into politics with many hopes but his plan was to [resolve all the problems] in one shot," Mr Gorbachev said, according to Itar-Tass news agency. | |
| Fellow reformer and former Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais wrote on his website: "Russia was tremendously lucky that Gaidar was there in one of the hardest moments of its history. | |
| "At the beginning of the 1990s, he saved the country from hunger, civil war and collapse." | |
| Lord Richard Layard, a British economist who worked closely with Mr Gaidar during the period of reform, said he was saddened when he heard the news. | |
| "When I was working with him, he was in his mid-30s, which was an extraordinary thing for someone of that age to be doing - to introduce a market economy into Russia," he said. | |
| "He was a giant figure and after he fell from power, he behaved with extraordinary dignity in Russia. He was still consulted by presidents and respected very much and it is a tragedy that he has gone." | |
| Mr Gaidar later headed a Moscow-based think tank which had criticised then-President Vladimir Putin's economic policies. | Mr Gaidar later headed a Moscow-based think tank which had criticised then-President Vladimir Putin's economic policies. |
| However, Mr Gaidar was widely seen as a marginal political figure in recent years. | However, Mr Gaidar was widely seen as a marginal political figure in recent years. |
| Three years ago he collapsed while on a book promotion tour in Ireland - a day after former Russian KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning in a London hospital. | |
| Mr Gaidar's symptoms also suggested poisoning, but this was never confirmed. He blamed enemies in the Kremlin. |