country's economic sickness, he had more than 50 americans as advisers, the most important of whom was jeffrey saxn, a common method to cure mental illnesses. in a short time, all price controls were released, and after the shock, everything got stable. but the shock wasn't the cure. within a year, the nation's buying power was nearly cut in half. one-third of people were below the poverty line and the wages hadn't been paid for months. prostitution became widespread and organized crime increased. the parliament decided to stop implementing yeltsin's policies, but the west continued to support it. is uh uh the best hope for democracy uh in russia. yelsin couldn't tolerate the parliament. he agreed to almost all american demands, but there was no news about the economic recovery for the soviet union. by 1998, 80% of russia's farmers went bankrupt, and 700 state-owned factories shut down. in the countries separated from the soviet union, the situation was even worse. the streets of europe were teaming with girls who had gone there to sell their bodies. a phenomenon which came to be known as the nata