Formerly the preeminent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Russia hasbeen an independent nation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Because ofits great size, its natural resources, and its political domination, the Russian Federationplayed a leading role in the economy of the Soviet Union. In the years preceding thedisintegration of the union in 1991, the economy of Russia and the union as a whole wasin decline. In 1992, immediately after the separation, the Russian governmentimplemented a series of radical reforms. Price controls were abolished as the beginningof a transition from a centrally controlled economy to a market economy.
An immediateseries of sharp price increases caused extreme hardships for the Russian people. 1 Inventor of the fictional five-year plan,2 the fake harvest, Russia introducedanother novel economic concept in 1996. It was a society modeled after the capitalistsociety. High expectations of economic growth even with ?shock therapy?–unemployment, social discontent and opportunities for corruption;3 influence of westernpoliticians and the U. S.
policy; and failing to completely reform the communistic systemwere some factors to why some became rich but led many to misery and an early death. Despite the huge infusions of Western money, millions of ordinary Russians struggled tosurvive in an economy neither capitalist nor communist, but something brand new andstrange which ultimately led to the failure of economic reform in Russia. 4In the Fall of 1996, Boris Yeltsin won the presidential election in Russia. He was
