Yegor Gaidar

Gaidar was often criticized for imposing ruthless reforms in 1992 with little care for their social impact; however, it has to be understood that the country back then was at the brink of a famine. Russia had no currency for buying import goods, at the same time, no-one gave credits as the country was essentially bankrupt.[11] The collapse of the Soviet social system led to serious deterioration in living standards. Millions of Russians were thrown into poverty due to their savings being devalued by massive hyperinflation. Moreover, the privatization and break-up of state assets left over from the Soviet Union, which he played a big part in, led to much of the country's wealth being handed to a small group of powerful business executives, later known as the Russian oligarchs, for much less than what they were worth. The voucher privatization program enabled these few oligarchs to become billionaires specifically by arbitraging the vast difference between old domestic prices for Russian commodities and the prices prevailing on the world market. Because they stashed billions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts rather than investing in the Russian economy, these oligarchs were dubbed "kleptocrats."[12] As society grew to despise these figures and resent the economic and social turmoil caused by the reforms, Gaidar was often held by Russians as one of the men most responsible.[13] On the other hand, the ubiquitous goods deficit of the Soviet years disappeared and it became possible to buy all goods in the shops. Per capita calorie consumption under Gaidar diminished by 3.5% from 2526.88 kCal to 2438.17 kCal.[14]

According to Franklin Foer writing in The Atlantic, however, "when Yegor Gaidar ... asked the United States for help hunting down the billions that the KGB had carted away, the White House refused."[15]

One of Gaidar's most outspoken critics was the Yabloko economist and MP Grigory Yavlinsky, who had proposed since 1990 a 500 Days programme for the transition of the whole USSR to market economic, which was first backed and then dismissed by the government of Nikolai Ryzhkov. Yavlinsky emphasized the differences between his and Gaidar's reforms program, such as the sequencing of privatization vs. liberalization of prices and the applicability of his program to the entire Soviet Union.

Gaidar's supporters contend that although many mistakes were made, he had few choices in the matter and ultimately saved the country both from bankruptcy and from starvation. According to the BBC's Andrei Ostalski, "There were only two solutions—either introduce martial law and severe rationing, or radically liberalize the economy. The first option meant going all the way back to the Stalinist system of mass repression. The second meant a colossal change, a journey—or, rather, a race—through uncharted waters with an unpredictable outcome."[16]

In November 2006 Gaidar went to Dublin, Ireland to present his book 'Death of the Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia' at an academic conference. Shorty after breakfast, a fruit salad and a cup of tea, Gaidar felt sick and returned from the conference hall to his room at the hotel. Then he was called on the phone to come down and deliver his speech, what Gaidar has later recalled as a call that saved his life, as he must had certainly died if were left in his room unattended. After Gaidar had tried to deliver his speeh he collapsed in the university hallway and was urgently taken a to local hospital. His colleague, Ekaterina Genieva, recalled that "He was lying on the floor unconscious. There was blood coming from his nose; he was vomiting blood. This went on for more than half an hour".[17]

Next day he moved from the hospital to the Russian embassy's premises and arranged a transfer to Moscow where the doctors familiar with his health status suggested that it looks like he was 'poisoned'.[18]

In a later interview that was published in the FT Gaidar claimed that this has been an attempted political murder, where "most likely that means that some obvious or hidden adversaries of the Russian authorities stand behind the scenes of this event, those who are interested in further radical deterioration of relations between Russia and the west".[19][20]

Another Russian reformist official and former colleague of Gaidar, Anatoly Chubais rejected a possibility of Kremlin's involvement in this case, commenting that "Yegor Gaidar was on the verge of death on 24 November. The deadly triangle - Politkovskaya, Litvinenko and Gaidar - would have been very desirable for some people who are seeking an unconstitutional and forceful change of power in Russia.[21]"

Irish police opened an official investigation of the case.[22] One of the versions voiced by the Russian opposition leaders and Kremlin supporters suggested that Boris Berezovsky, then a Russian oligarch in exile, may have been behind it.[23] Andrey Illarionov, former Putin's adviser now living in the US, commented that the whole case was staged, and the reason for taking Gaidar to hospital must have been hyperthensia, stress or alcohol.[24]

In honor of Yegor Gaidar, each year in mid-January the Russian Presidency holds the Gaidar Forum that attracts the Russian political and business elite, with top European politicians also attending. The Forum is organized the week before the World Economic Forum in Davos and thus also serves to formulate the Russian positions on a variety of topics.

• Director of the Institute for Economy in Transition[37]
• Executive Vice-President of the International Democratic Union (Conservative International)
• Steering Committee member "Arrabida Meetings" (Portugal)
• Member of the Baltic Sea Cooperation Council under the Prime-Minister of Sweden
• Member of the Editorial Board of "Vestnik Evropy" (Moscow)
• Member of the Advisory Board of the "Acta Oeconomica" (Budapest)
• Member of the Advisory Board of the CASE Foundation (Warsaw)
• Member of the International Advisory Board of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO[38] (Moscow)

• Honorary Professor, University of California, Berkeley
• Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecturer, Duke University
• Honorary Academy member of the Ukrainian Academy of Management
• Honorary Director, Russia-Ukraine Institute for Personnel and Management