In June 1991, Boris Yeltsin became Russia's first elected president. In December, following a failed putsch by communist hardliners that August, Yeltsin agreed with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus to dissolve the Soviet Union, leaving Russia independent. Yeltsin's elevation followed several years of partial reform under the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. The previous two years had seen declines in output, worsening shortages and fears of a complete economic and political collapse. In 1989, the average citizen spent 40-68 hours a month standing in line. By April 1991, fewer than one in eight respondents to an opinion poll said they had recently seen meat in state stores, and fewer than one in 12 had seen butter (Aron, 2002). In fall 1991, CNN predicted starvation that winter. Once in power, Yeltsin introduced radical economic reforms. In January 1992, most prices were liberalized. Queues disappeared, and goods reappeared in stores. A mass privatisation program, implemented from 1993to 1994, transferred shares in most firms from the government to their managers, workers and the public. By mid-1994, almost 70 percent of the Russian economy was in private hands. In 1995, with the help of the International Monetary Fund, Russia stabilized the ruble. Enacting these reforms proved extremely difficult. The parliament, the unreformed and well-organized Communist Party, and entrenched industrial interests resisted almost every measure. Source: Journal of Economic Perspectives, A Normal Country: Russia After Communism, 2005 a. Boris Yeltsin introduced radical economic reforms by implementing privatisation program. What role does privatisation play in economic transition? (10 marks)