Russians to Get Privatization Vouchers : Economics: Chits could be sold or used to buy pieces of state-owned businesses.

Pledging to “return to the people what was stolen by the state,” President Boris N. Yeltsin’s Cabinet announced Thursday that it plans to issue vouchers to every citizen good for buying pieces of government-owned businesses that are being sold to private owners.

Changing tactics in what is expected to become the world’s largest-ever privatization program, the Cabinet agreed to begin issuing the vouchers this autumn to every one of Russia’s 150 million citizens, including newborn babies.

The voucher scheme “provides full equality for all citizens,” Cabinet spokesman Alexei Ulyukayev said.

The program, under which Russians will be given the chance either to invest their vouchers or sell them, is so complicated that the government plans to issue explanations “on the level of comic books, so that every pensioner knows where to go and what to do,” Ulyukayev said.

But the plan is considered fairer than previous proposals, which largely involved selling off state-owned businesses to their workers or at auction to the highest bidder.

Instead of favoring the rich or those lucky enough to work in a profitable factory, the plan gives everyone a right to a share of the collective property accumulated under more than 70 years of Communist rule.

Czechoslovakia has undertaken a similar program, and citizens there have already begun obtaining their vouchers.

How, and to what extent, Russia privatizes its vast properties is one of the main indicators Western economists and governments are watching to see if Yeltsin is truly committed to reform.

So far, results have been unimpressive, with the program bogged down by political conflicts. A mere $20 million worth of property was privatized last year. Yeltsin’s economists have often been criticized for not aggressively pressing ahead with the program.

Thursday’s announcement, however, which gained in importance from the fact that the Russian Parliament rejected a much different privatization scheme the same day, appeared to mark a new consensus among Russia’s politicians that will finally let the government get going with privatization.

Now, Ulyukayev said, the government must work out some of the multitude of technical problems that arise from a program of such scale.

The state mint will have to print 150 million privatization vouchers--although Ulyukayev indicated that he hopes the West might help with the printing--and the government must figure out how much each voucher will be worth.

Probably, he said, their nominal value will be something more than 5,000 rubles--about $50 at current exchange rates--and they will be used one time only.

The government must also find a way to keep the process as corruption-free as possible in a country known for its crooked bureaucrats.

Ulyukayev said he is concerned that some intimidated country people might even be persuaded to pay bribes to local officials just to have the program explained to them.