The reform retired and confiscated large-denomination bills to attempt to dampen inflation and combat the black market within the Soviet Union.
On 22 January 1991, President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev signed a decree where the 1961-issued large-denomination banknotes, the 50 ruble and 100 ruble banknote, to be retired and removed from circulation.
[citation needed] After the decree was reported on television, on 23 January 1991, a crowd gathered and started besieging banks to exchange their bills to smaller variants.
As banks were not informed of the decree, and with limited money, they refused to open, while lines were starting to form.
Ruslan Khasbulatov said that: "The utter immorality of this decree is bound to cost the central government what little confidence people still have in it.