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Russian communists denounce privatisation after anniversary of ‘Black October’

RUSSIAN communists denounced the “continuing privatisation process” in the country today, highlighting the issue at a meeting commemorating the 25th anniversary of “Black October.”

The term refers to autumn 1993, when Russian President Boris Yeltsin sent troops and tanks to bombard the Supreme Soviet.

“Shock therapy” prescribed by US economists had seen a quarter wiped off Russia’s GDP in the previous year and average household incomes reduced by more than half, causing Russian MPs to refuse to nominate Mr Yeltsin’s preferred prime minister and demand an end to the privatisation programme.

The president had the building shelled, with between 187 and 1,500 people dying in the ensuing battles.

Communist MP DA Parfenov told the Duma that the “anti-constitutional coup d’etat” had seen most state property privatised and poverty explode.

“Is that so far from today?” he asked, saying that consumer price inflation was in double digits and that 31 per cent of Russians have “no savings at all.” He condemned the draft 2019 budget for providing for a 2 trillion rouble (£22.9 billion) surplus while raising the pension age in a “real robbery of working people.”

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