An illegal traffic or trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities.
Chernozem
A fertile black soil rich in humus, with a lighter lime-rich layer beneath. Such soils typically occur in temperate grasslands such as the Russian steppes and North American prairies.
Glasnost
(in the former Soviet Union) the policy or practice of more open consultative government and wider dissemination of information, initiated by leader Mikhail Gorbachev from 1985.
Czar
Another name for a Russian Emperor
Perestroika
(in the former Soviet Union) the policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system. First proposed by Leonid Brezhnev in 1979 and actively promoted by Mikhail Gorbachev, perestroika originally referred to increased
Command Economy
An economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government.
Abdicate
To give up one's office, throne, etc
Perestroika (continued)
automation and labor efficiency, but came to entail greater awareness of economic markets and the ending of central planning.
Ruble
Russian Economy
Regolith
The layer of unconsolidated rocky material covering bedrock.
