Yegor Timurovich Gaidar was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician, and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992.
20 Facts About Yegor Gaidar
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Yegor Gaidar was the architect of the controversial shock therapy reforms administered in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which brought him both praise and harsh criticism.
3.
Yegor Gaidar participated in the preparation of the Belovezh Accords.
4.
Yegor Gaidar died of pulmonary edema, provoked by myocardial ischemia on 16 December 2009.
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Yegor Gaidar was born in 1956 in Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union, the son of Ariadna Bazhova and Pravda military correspondent Timur Yegor Gaidar, who fought in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and was a friend of Raul Castro.
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Yegor Gaidar married the daughter of writer Arkady Strugatsky during his time at the university.
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Yegor Gaidar graduated with honors from the Moscow State University, Faculty of Economics, in 1978 and worked as a researcher in several academic institutes.
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Yegor Gaidar cut military procurement and industrial subsidies, and reduced the budget deficit.
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Yegor Gaidar was the First Vice-Premier of the Russian Government and Minister of Economics from 1991 until 1992, and Minister of Finance from February 1992 until April 1992.
10.
Yegor Gaidar was appointed Acting Prime Minister under President Boris Yeltsin in 1992 from 15 June until 14 December, when the anti-Yeltsin Russian Congress of People's Deputies refused to confirm Gaidar in this position and Viktor Chernomyrdin was eventually chosen as a compromise figure.
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Yegor Gaidar played an active role in the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.
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Yegor Gaidar was often criticized for imposing ruthless reforms in 1992 with little care for their social impact; however, it has to be understood that the country back then was at the brink of a famine.
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Yegor Gaidar's supporters contend that although many mistakes were made, he had few choices in the matter and ultimately saved the country both from bankruptcy and from starvation.
14.
In November 2006 Yegor Gaidar went to Dublin, Ireland, to present his book Collapse of an Empire: Lessons for Modern Russia at an academic conference.
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Shortly after breakfast, a fruit salad and a cup of tea, Yegor Gaidar felt sick and returned from the conference hall to his room at the hotel.
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Yegor Gaidar was called on the phone to come down and deliver his speech, which Gaidar later recalled as a call that saved his life, as he would surely have died if he had been in his room unattended.
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Yegor Gaidar died at the age of 53 in Odintsovo raion, Moscow Oblast, Russia.
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Yegor Gaidar is survived by his wife, three sons and daughter.
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Medvedev called Yegor Gaidar a "daring, honest and decisive" economist who "evoked respect among his supporters and opponents".
20.
US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said that, although controversial, Yegor Gaidar's legacy formed the foundation of a dynamic market-based economy.