Yegor Gaidar

Yegor Gaidar Timurowitsch (Russian Егор Тимурович Гайдар; born March 19, 1956 in Moscow, † December 16, 2009 in Odintsovo ) was a Russian politician and economist.

Life

Gaidar studied until 1978 at the Moscow State University of Economics. In 1980 he graduated from there his doctorate.

Until 1987 he worked at various academic institutions. From 1987 he was an editor at the magazine communist. In 1990 he moved to Pravda, where he also headed the business section.

In 1991, after the August coup, Gaidar was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs and was responsible as such for the basic market reforms. He was also Deputy Prime Minister. From June to December 1992 he was appointed acting Prime Minister of Russia. During the year 1994, he left the Boris Yeltsin government.

From 2000/2001 he was a leading member of the party Union of Right Forces, a liberal, pro- market party. He led a Moscow Institute of Economics and advised the government.

Gaidar in Dublin in 2006 suffered a serious breakdown and later expressed the suspicion of having been poisoned.

On 16 December 2009 Yegor Gaidar died of a blood clot. He was cremated and interred at a later, unspecified date announced in advance on Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.

Ruble crisis 1991/1992

Gaidar is still considered in the Russian public today as co-responsible of the Russian ruble crisis in 1991 and 1992. At the time lost due to raging inflation numerous bank deposits of private customers (especially the Russian Sberbank ) in a few days massively in value. Gaidar had at that time, among other things tries to cover through the implementation of market reforms stemming from the Soviet era pension claims to the state. Discussions about the correctness of his by the name of "shock therapy" ( шоковая терапия ) in the history of received economic policies pursued him to his death.

Family

Gaidar's father was the Rear Admiral and journalist Pravda Timur Gaidar. His paternal grandfather was the writer Arkady Gaidar, his maternal grandfather, the writer Pawel Baschow. His daughter, Maria Gaidar, is one of the leaders of the liberal opposition in Russia.