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Yegor Gaidar

Yegor Gaidar (1956–2009) — russian statesman and political figure, economist, one of the chief architects of the market reforms in russia in the 1990s, acting Chairman of the Government of the russian federation (1992).

Overview

Yegor Gaidar is known for his sober assessment of the complete economic and infrastructural dependence of the Crimean peninsula on Ukraine. In his public statements he warned against revising the status of Crimea and attempts at its annexation by russia, emphasizing the peninsula's critical attachment to Ukrainian resources and the catastrophic economic consequences of such actions for russia itself.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Assessment of Crimea's economic dependence (1995): In 1995, in an interview with the publication Pravda Ukrainy (Pravda Ukrainy), Yegor Gaidar expressed a circumspect position regarding the "Crimean question":

    "I do not think the 'Crimean question' will ever arise seriously. Crimea, as they say, is completely 'tied' to Ukraine, and its accession to russia — even purely hypothetically — would simply finish off the russian economy."

  • Context of citation in Crimean publicism: Gaidar's statement is used in the research of Petro Volvach as evidence that even russian liberal-economic circles in the 1990s recognized the complete resource-economic dependence of Crimea on mainland Ukraine.