By Sachs, Jeffrey D.

I want to talk to you tonight about the nature of the economic crisis in Russia and to give you a somewhat personal perspective on Russia's prospects for reform. It is very hard to gain enough distance to make a sound judgment about those prospects during these historic and tumultuous times-to have a good sense of whether Russia can get through its current crisis peacefully, with a civil society intact and with democracy as the outcome. Those are the standards of success that I would pose for the economic reforms under way, as well as for the broader political and social reforms.

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