Yegor Gaidar, the architect of Russia’s market reforms in the 1990s, has died aged 53, his spokesman has said.

The spokesman said Mr Gaidar died of a blood clot.

Mr Gaidar was Russia’s acting prime minister in 1992, launching the “shock therapy” reforms after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Mr Gaidar is credited with carrying out the first wave of privatisations under President Boris Yeltsin. His lifting of price controls was highly unpopular.

The policies angered millions of Russians who saw their savings devalued.

Mr Gaidar later headed a Moscow-based think tank which had criticised then-President Vladimir Putin’s economic policies.

However, Mr Gaidar was widely seen as a marginal political figure in recent years.