HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

Former Russian Prime Minister Kiriyenko Talks About Economic Reform

By Ken Gewertz
Gazette Staff

Former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko (left), seated next to Marshall Goldman, associate director of the Davis Center, waits to take the podium at the Science Center.

Former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko spoke at Harvard on Monday, Dec. 7, arguing that there is still hope for economic reform in his country, but that first there must be a change in consciousness.

Speaking through a translator to a crowd of several hundred in Science Center B, Kiriyenko combined facts and figures with pithy metaphors, driving home his points with quick hand gestures. He also showed that, despite being dismissed by President Boris Yeltsin last August as abruptly as he had been appointed five months before, he still has a sense of humor.

"You probably expect me to tell you that seven years of economic reform in Russia has gone down the drain, that the democratic forces are defeated, that Russia has been corrupted and criminalized and is moving back toward socialism," he said. "And then you probably expect me to try to convince you otherwise. Well, only the last part is correct."

Kiriyenko, 36, became the second most powerful man in Russia last March when President Boris Yeltsin named him to replace the 60-year-old Viktor Chernomyrdin. The choice was surprising to all, including Kiriyenko himself, who had been appointed minister of fuel and energy only a few months before. A British reporter described the slight, bespectacled Kiriyenko as having been "shoved blinking into the limelight."

In spite of his youth and inexperience, however, Kiriyenko impressed his critics with his energy and grasp of the country's economic and political situation. He quickly began a program of tax reform, which brought him into conflict with Russia's "oligarchs," operators of privatized state industries, which have been conspicuously resistant to paying taxes. He was trying to pass a comprehensive "anti-crisis plan" in response to Russia's Aug. 17 economic collapse when Yeltsin dismissed him and brought Chernomyrdin back into power.

"It's not true that there have been seven years of reform in Russia," Kiriyenko insisted. "We've tried everything, but there has been no steady movement. I believe that there are no irresolvable economic problems. Rather, the biggest problem is that we have underestimated the time for the evolution of consciousness. You can't shorten this."

Kiriyenko blamed populist leaders who have given people the idea that reform would be "painless and quick." As a result, the population is now tired and disappointed and suffering from a lack of consensus.

He also warned against those who advocated a return to totalitarian socialism, which would reform the economy through force. That approach, he said, could be characterized by the proverb: "When the patient's hands are tied, there is no need for anesthesia."

Kiriyenko's recommendations include a program of realistic public education, reorganization of Russia's crippling debt, and the entry of the country's healthiest industries into the world market, which, he said, would provide an incentive for economic reform.

Marshall Goldman, associate director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies, which sponsored Kiriyenko's visit, said that Kiriyenko's command of issues was very impressive. At a dinner that evening that included members of the banking and investment community, "everyone's mouth was open" at the former leader's ability to quote facts and statistics. Kiriyenko's way with numbers has earned him the nickname "the little computer" from Russian journalists.

Davis Center Director Timothy Colton, the Morris and Anna Feldberg Professor of Government and Russian Studies, said that Kiriyenko's rise to power was all the more remarkable, considering that he is "essentially a businessman" who "came out of nowhere."

The son of a Jewish university professor and a Ukrainian mother, Kiriyenko took his mother's surname to sidestep anti-Semitic hostility, although he makes no secret of his Jewish heritage.

After studying banking and finance at the Moscow Academy of Economics, he went into business for himself, selling cheap Siberian oil to Western markets, and reportedly amassing a fortune in the process. He next started his own bank, based in his native city of Nizhni Novgorod.

His government career started when his mentor Boris Nemstov, governor of the region, was appointed to a government post by Yeltsin, and Kiriyenko followed him.

According to Colton, the purpose of Kiriyenko's American trip is to win friends and seek support for his policies in preparation for another foray into Russian politics. As leader of a liberal coalition that he is in the process of forming, Kiriyenko plans to run for a seat in the Russian parliament.