President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's advisers decided Monday to introduce radical reforms next year to try to salvage an economy plagued by massive shortages, strikes and ethnic conflicts.

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Food prices would double, but the government would continue to regulate the cost of staple items, a draft of the planned reforms says. The reforms would not start until next year and would take place over five years, instead of the two years discussed earlier.Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov told a news briefing the Presidential Council approved the draft report Tuesday.

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