Russian economist Yegor Gaidar dies at 53

• Source: Global Times
• [01:47 December 17 2009]
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Yegor Gaidar

Russian economist Yegor Gaidar, the architect of the "shock therapy" economic reforms that aimed to swiftly transform Russia into a market economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union, died Wednesday aged 53, his spokesman said.

Gaidar, a leading liberal in the government of Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s, was hailed by reformers but largely reviled by the Russian public who blamed him for the economic hardship caused by the reforms.

In a sign Gaidar remains a hugely divisive figure, tributes poured in from his former allies for the boldness of the reforms but critics did not shy away from castigating the haste of the changes and hardship they caused.

Gaidar died at around 3:00 am (midnight GMT) while at work on a book, spokesman Valery Natarov said, giving the cause of death as complications arising from a blood clot.

President Dmitry Medvedev praised Gaidar "for taking responsibility for unpopular but necessary measures" during a period of great change.