Rimsevics
Aven worked with Gaidar in the 1980s, when both were in the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for System Studies (VNIISI), a Moscow branch of the mysterious International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Vienna.

The most telling fact is probably the common biographical detail shared by all the three economists-politicians-oligarchs (Aven, Chubais and Berezovsky) as well as Gaidar. All of them were, in one way or another, linked to the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.

In a recent interview, Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukaev indirectly confirmed that the institute had been envisioned by Yury Andropov, the head of the Soviet KGB and later secretary general of the Communist Party's Central Committee, as an incubator for ideas and cadres for reforms he planned to implement in the Soviet Union.

True, Ulyukaev spoke not about the Institute itself, but about its branch in Moscow, the above-mentioned All-Union Scientific Research Institute for System Studies. However, when asked about whether Andropov had indeed put together a reform project for the USSR, which had involved all the "young reformers", Alyukaev said: "Of course it existed! The most important institutes - first of all, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute for System Studies, the Institute for Economy and Technological Development Prognosis (where Gaidar later worked, M.L.) - were working on it. Only our 'curators' did not foresee qualitative change, all they thought about was how to change the system of indices and motivation.

There can be different takes on what the KGB curators of these "young economists" did or did not foresee. For instance, it is often claimed (especially regarding Berezovsky) that Russia's oligarchs had long assumed that they had "privatized" the KGB, but it eventually turned out that it was them who were "privatized" by the KGB.

But let me focus on facts, not interpretations. It is clearly a fact that after the failed coup of August 1991 the IIASA economists - Aven, Gaidar and Chubais - suddenly rose to highest government posts (there were many more IIASA alumni there).

This interesting and telling fact is what makes me want to look deeper into the role of the IIASA in their respective careers. Especially since Stanislav Shatalin, the head developer of the 500 Days programme that was to make the USSR transition to market economy, had also previously been linked to the IIASA. Not to mention many other IIASA alumni who are now important cogs in Putin's regime.

According to Grechenevsky, the anonymous KGB curator, who accompanied the "young economists" to internships at the IIASA, might be the former KGB colonel, or major general - and later businessman - Sergey Kugushev. Kugushev is known to have been involved in one of the analyst groups appointed by Andropov to draft a modernization plan for the USSR.

Not only has he described in detail Andropov's reform plan for the USSR, Corporation Red Star, but also elaborated on the role the IIASA was to play in implementing it. According to Kugushev, Andropov had decided to have specialists, who would be in charge of implementing the USSR reform plan, trained abroad and instructed in Western expertise.

The selection process for the "interns" was particularly strict, the head of the KGB took personal charge of it, often sifting through secret surveillance footage. One of the central criteria for would-be interns was how easy they would be to handle once they were in top government positions. This was part of preparation for, according to Kugushev, a possibility of the Communist Party loosing power. The KGB planned to stay on and take over control in the country.

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