Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency translation, dated 13 August 1993, is an Izvestiya article by Aleksandr Kislov on economic reform plans in Saratov Oblast. It explains a proposal by aviation plant director Aleksandr Yermishin, approved by Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin, for a US and Russian backed conversion and privatization fund that would draw in private investment. The only UFO link is a passing description of a new aircraft design that looks like a "flying saucer".
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
C00175461ing Private Investors from Both Countries in This Process," prepared by doctor of Sciences Aleksandr Yermishin in conjunction with scientists from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. It was submitted to the attention of participants in a meeting of Russian and U.S. delegations on conversion and privatization held at the end of May this year. 12 PM2408103593TAKE1 13 [Text] Several factors were the prerequisites for the emergence of this program of reforms in Saratov Oblast. First, the severe shortage of capital for investments and for increasing the working capital of enterprises. Second, the fact that money for conversion is not always used for its appointed purpose. Third, the center of gravity of conversion should inevitably shift to the regions -- it is impossible to run this process from a single center. The mechanism is as follows. The Russian and U.S. Governments would guarantee and sponsor a pilot scheme of reforms in Saratov Oblast, creating for it initial resources in the form of a conversion and privatization fund. This fund would be held in trust by a joint-stock company of the closed type, whose founders would be the professionals themselves -- the economists and organizing managers. Sociological research has been carried out in the oblast, in the course of which nine people were selected who enjoy the trust of the governmemt, the administrations, and the soviets, and are respected by enterprise directors. Money would be lent at interest, on the condition of carrying out the conversion and privatization of, say, 10 major enterprises. In addition, contracts would include a requirement to ensure a certain level of employment, the necessary consumer basket, and the production of goods people need by the enterprises which are converted. But the main emphasis is placed on attracting private investments to the program, both Russian and foreign. Governor Yuriy Belykh has set the task of finding such investors in the oblast. According to Aleksandr Yermishin, today it is possible to speak with confidence of 10 billion rubles which entrepreneurs of Saratov Oblast are ready to invest in the program of reforms. This money will be channeled through specially created investment and insurance companies and a mortgage bank into enterprises of a subsidiary company which will carry out specific conversion and privatization projects. 17 The More Bans, the More Violations [subhead] In short, a consortium is being set up in the oblast which should ensure the real progress of reforms on the basis of market laws and using the mechanism of the economic interest of the subjects of the market and its own employees. "We intend to live in Saratov for a long time, and want to bequeath a normal economy to our children and grandchildren," Aleksandr Yermishin explained. "This is why we are striving for the market. We are in favor of traveling this part of the road as quickly as possible, under the moral control of society. Right now state money ends up in private hands anyway. Everyone knows the 'price' of bank credits, licenses, and quotas. These figures are quoted openly in the newspapers. But the negative effects in our economy can be turned into positive ones. There is such a law: The more bans, the more violations. Why should credits go only to state structures? Why should the man who distributes them receive a miserly wage, constantly tempted by bribes? "We are mastering the principles of the market economy. And we do not intend to sit on state money. No, we will squeeze the maximum benefit from it for ourselves, but our profits should be directly linked to the efficiency of our work for society. "On the subject of 'laundering' money. If a private person gets hold of money, it can erode society, but it can also cement it together. Yes, billions were made from the sale of vodka, for example, when the state gave up its monopoly. This money takes three paths. First -- to the West. We beg the G-7 for aid to carry out reforms, they give us 3 billion, although there are already 100 billion 'Russian' dollars, as U.S.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.