| 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 |
| 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
March 11 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes general secretary of Communist Party of Soviet Union.
April 23 Communist Party Central Committee approves resolution to reform economic management.
December 24 Boris Yeltsin is elected first secretary of Moscow City Communist Party.
January 15 Gorbachev proposes total elimination of nuclear weapons by the year 2000.
February 18 Yeltsin becomes candidate member of Politburo of Communist Party
June Gorbachev attacks State Planning Commission of USSR.
November 19 USSR Law on Individual Labor Activity allows some private enterprise.
January 27 Plenary session of Communist Party Central Committee focuses on democratization.
June 30 Supreme Soviet (parliament) of USSR adopts Law on State Enterprises, effective January 1988.
October 21 Yeltsin criticizes Gorbachev's approach to reforms and falls from favor.
November 11 Yeltsin is removed as first secretary of Moscow Communist Party.
February 18 Yeltsin is removed from candidate membership in Politburo.
May USSR Law on Cooperatives allows privaœe enterprises to be formed.
June28 Gorbachev proposes elections for a new legislature, the Congress of People's Deputies.
October 1 Gorbachev is selected chairman of Presidium of Supreme Soviet, or head of state.
December USSR decree permits sale of state-owned apartments to individuals.
December 1 USSR Supreme Soviet approves law providing for contested elections.
March 26 Elections for Congress of People's Deputies. Yeltsin wins seat as deputy from Moscow.
May 25 USSR Congress of People's Deputies convenes. Gorbachev is selected as chairman of Supreme Soviet.
April USSR decree allows leasing of state enterprises by their workers.
May 29 Yeltsin achieves membership in USSR Supreme Soviet when another deputy yields his seat.
July 5 Gorbachev creates Commission on Economic Reform under Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Abalkin.
July 6 Gorbachev tells Council of Europe that USSR will not block reforms in Eastern Europe.
October Abalkin Commission presents a program emphasizing a market economy, freeing of prices, competition, a convertible currency, and stock exchanges.
End of year 10,000 apartments have been privatized.
January Gorbachev tacitly allows leasing of family farms
February Grigory Yavlinsky and others discuss a 500-day program for transition to a market economy.
March Supreme Soviet of USSR passes law on property, with no mention of private ownership of land.
Yeltsin is elected to Russia's Congress of People's Deputies from Ekaterinburg.
N. Petrakov convenes meeting of economists to devise more radical alternative to Abalkin plan.
March13 USSR Congress of People's Deputies amends Constitution to eliminate Communist Party's monopoly on power and create post of president.
March 14 USSR Congress of People's Deputies selects Gorbachev as president.
May 24 Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov announces price increases but rescinds them when wave of panic buying sweeps country.
May 29 Yeltsin is elected chairman of Russia's Supreme Soviet.
June Russia's Supreme Soviet declares its sovereignty and precedence of its laws over those of USSR.
June 4 Supreme Soviet of USSR passes Law on Enterprises, emphasizing a market economy.
June 12 Supreme Soviet of USSR passes law guaranteeing freedom of press.
Summer Grigory Yavlinsky enters Russian government as deputy prime minister; Boris Fedorov becomes minister of finance.
July Gorbachev is reelected general secretary of Communist Party with much opposition. Yeltsin quits Communist Party.
August Group of economists under Stanislav Shatalin, convened jointly by Gorbachev and Yeltsin, develops 500-day plan for economic reform.
August 9 USSR Council of Ministers (cabinet) legalizes private ownership of business.
August 31 Gorbachev orders reform plans of Ryzhkov government and Shatalin group to be combined.
September 11 Russian Supreme Soviet approves Shatalin's 500-day plan by vote of 213 to 1.
September 24 USSR Supreme Soviet grants Gorbachev decree powers for 18 months to implement economic reforms.
October Gorbachev rejects 500-day economic reform plan. USSR Supreme Soviet approves another transition plan and passes law authorizing multiparty system.
October 1 USSR Supreme Soviet legislates freedom of worship
November Russian Congress of People's Deputies adopts law authorizing family farms.
November 7 Gorbachev escapes assassination attempt.
November 13 Yeltsin says Russia cannot implement Shatalin reform plan without cooperation of USSR.
December Russian Congress of People's Deputies adopts Law on Land Reform.
December 25 Russian Law on Enterprises and Entrepreneurial Activity allows sole proprietorships, partnerships, and closed and open joint-stock corporations, and eliminates restrictions on their activities.
End of year 53,000 apartments and 4,432 family farms have been privatized.
January Wholesale prices are freed but retail prices remain unchanged and subsidies to consumers rise.
January 1 Prime Minister Pavlov and Victor Gerashenko, Chairman of Gosbank, announce a surprise currency reform cancelling 50 and 100 ruble notes.
February In television address Yeltsin calls for Gorbachev's resignation.
March USSR referendum shows support for voluntary union of Soviet republics and popular election of Russian president.
March 31 Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
April Nine leaders of Soviet republics agree to negotiations to replace Soviet Union.
April 1 USSR increases consumer prices but also expands subsidies.
April 4 Russian Supreme Soviet gives Yeltsin extensive powers.
April 24-25 Gorbachev threatens to resign.
June Soviet Union considers but does not adopt Draft Law on Fundamental Principles of Destatization and Privatization of Enterprises.
June 12 Yeltsin is elected president of Russia with 57.3% of vote.
Summer Gorbachev rejects plan presented by Grigory Yavlinsky, Graham Allison and Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard University, and others for rapid economic and political reform in return for massive Western aid.
July Russian Housing Privatization Act is adopted.
July 3 Russian Supreme Soviet adopts Law on Privatization of State and Municipal Enterprises and Law on Personal Privatization Accounts.
July 17 Gorbachev meets with Group of 7 in London and receives little economic aid.
August 4 Gorbachev leaves Moscow to vacation near Sochi, on Black Sea.
August 10 Gorbachev signs decree authorizing privatization in USSR.
August 18 Delegation of antireform Communists tries unsuccessfully to persuade Gorbachev to declare a state of emergency.
August 19 Emergency committee announces it has assumed power.
August 21 Takeover attempt fails; Gorbachev returns to Moscow.
August 24 Gorbachev suspends Communist Party and resigns as general secretary.
August-
September Most Soviet republics declare independence.
October 28 Before Russia's Congress of People's Deputies Yeltsin announces radical economic reforms, including price liberalization, privatization, and tight monetary and fiscal policies.
November Yeltsin appoints Anatoly Chubais minister of privatization and chairman of State Committee for Management of State Property.
November 1 Russian Congress of People's Deputies grants Yeltsin decree powers to implement economic reforms.
November 4 Soviet republic leaders agree to abolish all USSR ministries other than Defense, Foreign Affairs, Railways, and Nuclear Power.
November 6 Yeltsin bans Communist Party of Soviet Union and of Russia
November 6-8 Yeltsin becomes prime minister of Russia in addition to president; delegates economic reform to deputy prime ministers Gennady Burbulis, Yegor Gaidor, and Aleksandr Shokhin.
November 15 Russian decree on social partnership envisions tripartite agreements between trade unions, government, and employers. Additional decrees empower enterprises to determine their own wage levels and engage in import and export activities, and give Yeltsin control of all financial and economic activity on Russian territory.
December 7-8 Yeltsin and heads of Ukraine and Belorus decide to end Soviet Union. Belovezhsky agreement between Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine on the abolition of the USSR and the foundation of the CIS
December 22 Eleven former Soviet republics form Commonwealth of Independent States at meeting in Alma-Ata.
December 25 Gorbachev resigns. Russian flag replaces Soviet flag over Kremlin.
December 27 Presidium of Russian Supreme Soviet unanimously adopts provisional privatization program.
December 29 Yeltsin issues decree on basic provisions of Program of Privatization of State and Municipal Enterprises in Russian Federation; decree on land reform, mandating transfer of property of collective and state farms; and decree on freedom of trade.
End of year 175,000 apartments and 49,013 family farms have been privatized; 250,000 new small businesses have been started.
January 2 Prices are freed on most products and economic reform begins.
January 29 Yeltsin issues decree to accelerate privatization of state and municipal enterprises.
February 27 Russia signs memorandum on economic policy with International Monetary Fund (IMF).
March Most food prices still under state control are freed.
March 25 Yeltsin issues decree authorizing sale of land under privatized enterprises.
April Yeltsin announces that privatization vouchers will be distributed at end of 1992. Congress of People's Deputies defeats measure to permit privatization of land.
April 1 Western governments announce support in principle for $25 billion in aid to Russia linked to a future IMF agreement.
April 2 Ruslan Khasbulatov, chairman of Supreme Soviet, calls for reintroduction of price controls.
April 3 Burbulis is sacked as first deputy prime minister.
April 6 Sixth Congress of People's Deputies convened
April 11 Congress of People's Deputies criticizes economic policy of Russian government.
May-June Vladimir Lopukhin sacked as minister of fuel and energy; three industrialists appointed deputy prime ministers: Viktor Chernomyrdin, Vladimir Shumeiko, and Georgy Khizha
May 30 Viktor Chernomyrdin becomes minister of energy and deputy prime minister.
May 31 Anatoly Chubais, minister of privatization, is appointed deputy prime minister.
June 1 Russia becomes member of International Monetary Fund.
June 11 Supreme Soviet adopts privatization program for 1992.
June 15 Yeltsin appoints Gaidar acting prime minister.
July 1 Yeltsin issues decree mandating corporatization of state-owned enterprises by November 1, 1992.
July 1 Formal separation of the Russian ruble from other noncash rubles
July Russia and the IMF sign a standby agreement
July 17 Supreme Soviet names Viktor Gerashchenko as acting chair of Central Bank.
July 24 Chubais chairs government commission to accelerate pace of reform.
August 5 Russia and IMF sign agreement for $1.04 billion loan.
August 19 Yeltsin delivers speech on voucher privatization.
December Voucher privatization program for mid-sized and large enterprises begins.
December 12 Yegor Gaidar ousted as acting prime minister by the Seventh Congress of People's Deputies. Yeltsin dismisses Gaidar as prime minister.
December 14 Yeltsin appoints Viktor Chernomyrdin prime minister.
End of year 18 mid-sized and large companies, 46,797 small shops, 2,788,000 apartments, and 182,787 family farms have been privatized; 3,485 industrial enterprises have been leased; and 503,203 new small businesses have been started.
March Constitutional Court rules Yeltsin's decree on emergency rule unconstitutional.
March 28 Vote to impeach Yeltsin in Supreme Soviet is narrowly defeated.
April 16 Oleg Lobov appointed first deputy prime minister and minister of the economy
April 20 Technical credits to other former Soviet republics abolished
April 25 Economic reform and Yeltsin receive narrow vote of confidence in national referendum.
May 1 Nationalists and communists organize violent May Day demonstration in Moscow.
May Agreement with the IMF on a Systemic Transformation Facility
July 24 Demonetization of Soviet ruble banknotes
September 7 Agreement on the formation of a ruble zone of a new type
June 30 Russia and IMF sign agreement for $1.5 billion loan
September 18 Gaidar rejoins government, replaces Lobov as first deputy prime minister and minister of economy.
September 21 Yeltsin dissolves Congress of People's Deputies and Supreme Soviet.
September 25 Subsidized credits abolished
October 3-4 Armed uprising in Moscow; military units storm White House.
October 27 Yeltsin issues decree on land relations and agrarian reform.
December 12 Elections for Duma (new parliament) and referendum on new constitution.
December New constitution adopted
December 24 Yeltsin issues decree initiating State Program of Privatization of State and Municipal Enterprises.
End of year 8,509 mid-sized and large companies, 80,491 small shops, 8,592,000 apartments, and 270,000 family farms have been privatized; 784,509 new small businesses have been started.
January 5 Agreement on monetary union with Belarus signed
January 16 Gaidar resigns as first deputy prime minister and minister of economy
January 20 Boris Fedorov resigns as deputy prime minister and minister of finance.
April 7 Government adopts post-voucher privatization policies to sell state-owned enterprises and unsold shares of privatized enterprises for cash.
April 20 Russia and IMF sign agreement for $1.5 billion loan.
July 1 Formal end of voucher privatization program for mid-sized and large enterprises.
July 22 Yeltsin's decree overrides Duma's veto of cash privatization program.
October 11 "Black Tuesday", ruble collapses on currency markets.
October 14 Gerashchenko is sacked as chairman of Central Bank
November 5 Chubais is named first deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs.
November 15 Vladimir Polevanov is appointed deputy prime minister and chairman of State Committee for Management of State Property (GKI).
December 12 Russia moves troops into break-away republic of Chechnya.
December 14 Polevanov says privatization in strategic sectors may be detrimental to national security, and privatized companies in such sectors may be renationalized.
End of year 16,462 mid-sized and large companies, 95,538 small shops, 10,975,000 apartments, and 279,000 family farms have been privatized; 779,462 new small businesses have been started.
January 24 Yeltsin fires Polevanov as deputy prime minister and chairman of GKI.
January Yeltsin appoints Chubais first deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs
February Yeltsin appoints Sergei Belyaev as chairman of GKI.
March 1 Commission on Securities and Capital Market acquires status of cabinet ministry.
April 11 Russia and IMF sign agreement for $6.8 billion loan.
April 22 Chubais is appointed Russia's representative to World Bank and IMF.
June20 Belyaev announces 2,809 enterprises in which the government will not sell remaining state-owned shares until 1996 at the earliest.
June 23 Bank of New York announces National Registry Company to provide share registration services and access to American depositary receipts.
July 14 Duma passes land reform bill permitting lease of agricultural land but prohibiting its sale.
July 26 Presidential decree calls for establishment of mutual funds.
December Elections for Duma
December 26 Russian Corporate Law is passed by Duma and signed by Yeltsin.
End of year 17,937 mid-sized and large companies, 105,111 small shops, and 12,118,000 apartments have been privatized; 794,889 new small businesses have been started.
January Yeltsin removes Chubais from all his positions in government.
March Dmitry Vasiliev is appointed chairman of Commission on Securities and Capital Market. Chubais joins Yeltsin's presidential campaign team as senior aide.
March 7 Presidential decree entitles any agricultural worker to claim a share of land controlled by his or her collective farm, with power to sell, mortgage, and bequeath it.
March 26 Russia and IMF sign agreement for $10.087 billion loan.
April 22 Yeltsin signs Law on Securities Market.
June 16 Yeltsin narrowly beats Gennady Zyuganov; Communist candidate, in presidential election but fails to win a majority of votes.
June 19 Yeltsin fires First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets and other opponents of reform.
July 3 Yeltsin wins presidential runoff election by a substantial margin; Chubais is appointed presidential chief of staff; Viktor Chernomyrdin is confirmed by Duma as new prime minister; Aleksandr Lebed is named national security adviser.
August 15 Aleksei Bolshakov; Viktor Ilyushin, and Vladimir Potanin are named first deputy prime ministers; Aleksandr Livshits is named deputy prime minister and minister of finance; Yevgeny Yasin is renamed minister of economy.
March 23 Yeltsin sacks Chernomyrdin
March Yeltsin appoints Kiriyenko
May 12 Coal miner's strike
August 17 Russia devalues the ruble
August 23 Yeltsin sacks Kiriyenko
August 28 Ruble trading is suspended
August 31 Duma rejects Chernomyrdin
September Yeltsin appoints Primakov as prime minister
Sources: Joseph R. Blasi, Maya Kroumova, and Douglas Kruse, Kremlin Capitalism: The Privatisation of the Russian Economy, pp., xiii-xix. and Anders Aslund, How Russia Became a Market Economy, pp.319-320.