Economic 'shock therapy' in Russia
Chaos and hardship hit Russia when free-market reforms were introduced overnight in 1992
Witness History · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
President Vladimir Putin came onto the Russian political scene in 1999 after a decade of chaos following the collapse of the Soviet Union. This included a disastrous experiment with free market reforms in 1992, which led to an increase in poverty for ordinary Russians and the emergence of an elite of super-wealthy Oligarchs. In 2018, Dina Newman spoke to one of the architects of this “shock therapy” - Andrei Nechaev, who was then the Minister for Economic Development.
(Photo: Old women selling cigarettes on the streets of Moscow in 1992. Credit: BBC)