Yegor Gaidar, 53, who oversaw Russia's transition from communism to the free market in the 1990s, died of a blood clot on Wednesday at his home in the Moscow area while working on a book. Gaidar, who served under Boris Yeltsin and as acting prime minister for six months in 1992, was loathed by Russians who saw their savings wiped out by the inflation that followed his price liberalization that year. But he was praised by others for taking it upon himself to fix a dysfunctional Communist economy. He oversaw the so-called shock therapy reforms that opened prices that formerly were set by the state to the free market. That meant empty grocery stores restocked immediately but that hyperinflation put most goods out of reach of many consumers. AP
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It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.
