Russia has had regional policies but of a quite different nature than the
regional policies of the West. Russia pursues regional policies for
nationalistic and strategic reasons as well as development of economic
resources, but never is there a concern for reducing regional disparities
in standards of living. With the millions of ethnic minorities included
in the territories controlled by the Russian State in its various guises
this would be a difficult and controversial objective. Lenin said that
the Russian Empire was a "prison-house of nations" and so it was. But so
was the Soviet Union and so is the Russian Federation of today. There is
a mania in the Russian soul for acquiring and holding onto often desolate
pieces of real estate and the peoples who occupy them. This is not only
terrible for the peoples acquired but it is costly for the Russian people
not only in terms of state funds but also in terms of their children who
end up as cannon-fodder for the brutal military campaigns required.
Notes on: "The Russian Road to the Market" by Anders
Åslund in
Current History October 1995
Anders Åslund is optimistic about Russia. Writing c. 1995
Åslund was conscious of how desperate conditions were
in Russia in 1991 and the improvements that had been
achieved between 1991 and 1995. Here are some of the conditions
of the Russian situation in 1991:
the consolidated state budget deficit was 30 percent
of GDP
GDP in the fourth quarter of 1991 was down 21
percent from its level in the fourth quarter of 1990
State stores were virtually empty because the
fixed state-mandated prices were out of line with market
values
the constituent republics of the Soviet Union were
refusing to pay taxes to the central government
the Soviet Union was running out of external credit
and defaulted on international payments
Communists in the bureaucracy saw the solution to the
shortages as administrative control of production, whereas
the market solution was to adjust prices to the new
realities. The high inflation could be curbed only if
the government stopped pumping up the money supply. But
that meant reducing the subsidies to state enterprises
which could lead to their collapse and further drops in
production and more shortages. However, when the Communist head
of the Central Bank, Viktor Gerashchenko, was replaced by Tatyana
Paramonova the hyperinflation soon ended.