Russia has created the conditions for investment and industrial success, but December's parliamentary election could slam the brakes on reform, First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais said Friday.


Chubais told a news briefing that conservatives could slow or halt the completion of a legal framework to underpin reforms if they did well in the Dec. 17 poll. But economic changes were unlikely to be reversed completely.


"The worst outcome of the election is a slowdown or a stop to economic reform, but I cannot imagine a real economic policy which would lead back," he said.


Communists, who lead the opinion polls for the election, promise to subsidize prices and reverse the fall in production, but do not say where they will find the money to finance their plans.


But even communists have been talking to business leaders in the run-up to the poll and Chubais said this seemed to show they realized they had to find a compromise on key economic issues.


"They have two alternatives. They can forget everything they said, and then there is some chance of survival," he said. "Or they can start implementing the slogans of the election campaign ... The result would be an increase in inflation from four or five percent [monthly] to 15 or 25 percent. It would destroy financial markets."


November's 4.5 percent monthly inflation rate is the lowest since economic reforms began in January 1992. The government has promised average monthly rates of 1.9 percent next year.


Chubais, formerly responsible for Russia's massive privatization campaign, now has overall charge of economic reforms. He said lower inflation and a successful privatization campaign would bring in much-needed investment.