ABSTRACT
Once Boris Yeltsin had been successfully re-elected as president of Russia, his new government, which was announced on 15 August 1996, had to begin an immediate process of damage control. The first step was to cancel or postpone the bulk of all those lavish election promises that had been made in practically all directions. This was done by a special presidential decree, scrapping more than 50 normative acts on socio-economic improvements.1
