Foreign Assistance: International Efforts to Aid Russia's Transition Have Had Mixed Results

摘要

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, multilateral organizations and bilateral donors, including the United States, have provided the Russian Federation (Russia) with tens of billions of dollars in economic assistance directed at helping Russia's transition to a market economy within a democratic state. The value of this assistance is difficult to assess, however, since Russia appears to be a long way from having a competitive, market economy, and its transition experience over the past decade has been more difficult than was expected. The approaches used to assist Russia, both in the past and for the future, continue to be debated.