From English, the word voucher (voucher) is translated as "receipt" or "surety". This term is used in international tourism and trade. However, for Russians, a voucher most often means a privatization check, which was widely circulated in the country in the early nineties of the twentieth century.
The history of the emergence of the voucher in Russia is inextricably linked with the privatization process. After the USSR collapsed on December 26, 1991, a large-scale transfer of state property to private ownership, or privatization, began in the country. Subsequently, this phenomenon received an extremely negative assessment of historians due to the fact that the state could not always control the new institution of private property, and privatization at many enterprises proceeded spontaneously, with the use of force.
As a tangible equivalent of the transfer of state assets to private ownership, the country issued privatization checks, called vouchers. In fact, they were government securities for special purposes, were intended as a means of payment for privatization objects. Privatization checks were issued at a face value of ten thousand rubles and had a limited validity period (three years), and could not be restored if lost.
Every citizen of Russia could get his hands on one voucher for ten thousand rubles for free (in fact - for 25 rubles). In addition, if possible, it was possible to freely sell or buy any number of vouchers at a negotiated price. For the vouchers themselves, their holders could purchase privatization objects (most often partially, in percentage) or shares of investment funds.
The state actively encouraged Russians to buy vouchers. Together with the first free voucher, reminders were distributed in which it was written: "Remember: the one who buys the privatization checks expands his opportunities, and the one who sells is deprived of prospects." Unsurprisingly, the market for buying and selling vouchers in the early nineties was very brisk. Someone got rid of them, someone, on the contrary, bought up, investing in various financial structures. The selling price depended on many factors and started from the cost of two bottles of vodka.
The vouchers expired on July 1, 1994. Most Russians have never received any dividends from these securities. The only exceptions were those who shrewdly invested their privatization checks in the shares of the largest state-owned companies such as Gazprom.
