The crises in both Russia and Ukraine were caused by "slow progress of
reform," said renowned Russian economist Yegor Gaidar at a joint press
conference for Russian and Ukrainian economists held in the UNIAN news
agency.
Former Russian Deputy Premier Boris Nemtsov is confident that in a year
and a half reformers will win the parliamentary elections in Russia and
"will return to power with their heads held high." He believes that "any
leftist government is by definition much more corrupt than a rightist one,"
for a leftist government is much more involved in regulating the economy,
and this is the most favorable soil for corruption.
Nemtsov predicts a "grandiose" scandal related to corruption in Ukraine.
According to him, the day before his Ukrainian colleagues informed him
about a "'unique' decision concerning nine companies"- that have been importing
into Ukraine goods liable to excise duty - cigarettes, cars, alcohol, etc.
- without paying tariffs. In response to Ukrainian deputy Serhiy Teriokhin's
remark, "There are now forty such companies, not nine," Boris Nemtsov said,
"See, the number has risen to forty overnight. This is the sure way to
corruption."
Boris Nemtsov believes that the IMF will rescue neither Russia, nor
Ukraine. He criticized the IMF for issuing recommendations and programs
to governments and for allocating money to countries when it is absolutely
clear that a government has no intention to implement those programs.
Viktor Pynzenyk noted that the level of corruption in Ukraine is much
higher than in Russia, attributing it to the high level of state administration
in the Ukrainian economy. He also placed part of the blame for the economic
crisis on the IMF, which continues to allocate money for an unreformed
economy.
All the speakers at the press conference were unanimous in their appraisal
of emission as an "opiate of the economy." The Russian visitors were genuinely
amused by the quotes of President Kuchma's statements on a restricted emission.
"An emission cannot be restricted. An emission is always untargeted," Yegor
Gaidar pointed out. The Russian reformers believe that reforms in Russia
have always started after failures and economic crises.
In response to The Day's question of whether the Russian reformers
expect the pendulum of the political power in Russia to swing rightward
after it has already swung leftward, Gaidar said that he is confident that
in Russia, after a period of leftist government, the reformers will finally
come to power. With respect to Ukraine, he "is not totally sure about it
but hopes it will happen."







