Nobody had a road map. Of course, we understood generally where we would like Russia to be and where most Russians wanted to be. But nobody knew how to move from where they were to where they needed to be. And this was an enormous task. There was no roadmap and everybody knows that when you are doing something new, a lot of mistakes are going to be made.
Many analysts say mistakes are inevitable as Russia moves ahead toward a market economy.
But experts also say the West must continue to help Moscow in that difficult transition.