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TEXT III
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Key words:
railway network – сеть железных дорог,
heavy industry –
тяжелая промышленность,
strong effect – сильное влияние,
growth in the production – рост производства,
reduction – снижение,
industrial output – объем промышленного производства,
monetary system – денежная система,
consumption – потребление,
to some extent – в какой-то степени.
From the History of Russian Economy
From 1917 until 1991 Russia (then the R.S.F.S.R.) played a lead-
ing role in the economy of the Soviet Union. The development of
mining, metallurgy, and heavy engineering, the expansion of the
railway network, and an increase in the energy supply had a strong
effect on the Russian republic. In addition
to further growth in
the production of oil, gas, electricity and in the chemical indust-
ries —there was a marked diversification in industrial output
including a limited expansion in consumer goods.
In 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the govern-
ment of the Russian Federation conducted a series of radical re-
forms designed to transform the Russian economy from planned
and controlled to one based on a free market.
Major components
of the reforms included establishing privately owned industrial
and commercial enterprises, with foreign as well as Russian in-
vestments.
These measures caused considerable hardships for the average
Russian citizen. The monetary system was destroyed: the removal
of price controls caused a great escalation of inflation and prices, the
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value of the ruble plummeted, and real incomes fell dramatically.
Industrial and agricultural
production declined, and unemployment
rose, causing shortages of consumer goods. These difficulties were
reduced to some extent by the rapid development of a large infor-
mal (i.e., black market) economy. The result of these trends was the
appearance of a great gap between a successful businessman and
average worker. Conditions began to improve by the mid-1990s,
but both production and consumption remained below the peak
levels achieved under the Soviet economic system.
In addition to these difficulties, Russia and other republics had
been subjected to serious, environmental degradation,
the full ex-
tent of which became apparent only in the 1990s. The most visible
aspects of this situation, such as the Chernobyl accident and the
reduction in the water volume of the Aral Sea, were symptomatic
of wasteful agricultural practices and resource exploitation, and of
widespread industrial pollution.
Since then Russia has faced the multiple
tasks of introducing
market mechanisms into its economy, trying to modernize heavy
industries and service industries.
Today the economic structure of the country is divided into 11
economic regions: the North, Northwest, Central, Volga-Vyatka,
Central Black Earth,
North Caucasus, Volga, Ural, West Siberia,
East Siberia, and the Far East.
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