151
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.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: