Russia launched its mass privatization drive Thursday, but the issue of the much-heralded vouchers that the government has billed as the linchpin of its program met with less than enthusiasm in Moscow.


At hastily improvised Savings Bank annexes throughout Moscow where the government is handing out the 10, 000 ruble vouchers, the anticipated crowds never materialized.


Some banks waited hours for their first client, and on the Moscow Voucher Exchange the first day of trading was modest at best.


The vouchers, with a face value of $33 at current exchange rates, are being distributed to every man, woman and child in the country. They can be used to buy shares in any of 7, 000 state-owned enterprises, cashed in for money or invested in a mutual fund.


For most Russians, the vouchers represent their first opportunity to buy into industry. When President Boris Yeltsin announced the program in August, he said he wanted to create millions of property owners.


But economic uncertainty caused by the plunging ruble and high inflation have dampened popular expectations for the program, as was evident in Moscow on Thursday.


Inside one Petrovka district bank, portraits of Marx, Engels and Lenin presided over an atmosphere of lack of information, disorder and apathy as Russia finally began turning over its means of production to the people.


"I work in this system and even I don't understand what it is all about", said Marina Trofimova, a bank employee who gave out vouchers to the few who showed up Thursday.


Most of those who picked up their vouchers said they had little idea of what they would do with them. "I'm not interested", said Yury Fyodorov, 24. "I have no idea what to do with my voucher. I'll let my parents decide".


Bank employees predicted larger crowds in the future as the mechanics of collecting the vouchers become known.


Moscow's Savings Banks are in any case not prepared to disperse the vouchers immediately, according to Vera Getmanskaya, who set up the distribution plan for the Petrovka district. Tellers can physically hand out no more than 60 a day because of the amount of paperwork involved, she said.


The general lack of interest carried over to the first day of trading at the Moscow Voucher Exchange, where only three real vouchers were offered. At the inflated price of 500, 000 rubles a voucher, there were no buyers.


But organizers were surprised by relatively strong trade in voucher "options", a synthetic financial instrument developed by the exchange, but worthy of the best Wall Street screen jockey.


Contracts for the delivery of 250 vouchers were signed at an average price of 7, 868 rubles a voucher.


Under an option contract, the seller agrees to supply a quantity of vouchers at the end of the month. The buyer pays a percentage of the agreed price, with the rest to follow if the buyer actually decides to purchase the physical voucher.


The exchange's chief executive, Alexei Vlasov, said that trade had been better than expected in options and that he was not surprised no physical vouchers were traded.


He said that, according to the exchange's computer projections, the price of vouchers would fall for a month or two then rise significantly and stabilize.


Prior to Thursday, expectations were that citizens would rush to sell off their vouchers for cash, something that privatization officials have been trying to convince them not to do.


According to an informal poll this week by the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, as many as 80 percent of Russians questioned are planning to sell their vouchers.


In an interview with The Moscow Times, Pyotr Mostovoi, deputy chairman of the Russian State Property Commission that oversees the voucher program, repeated the government's message that Russians should hang on to their vouchers.


"We are telling people that if they wait until there is something to buy they will be able to get more for their voucher", Mostovoi said.


With the vouchers, Russia's 170 million citizens will be able to buy shares in industry after Jan. 1.


Opponents to the government's privatization plan have charged that enterprise workers and management would use their substantial advantages in the privatization process to buy up the best stocks, leaving the public with decrepit and bankrupt factories.


Mostovoi brushed aside these charges, saying that the Russian government would take measures to make the vouchers worth more by the end of the month.


These include allowing the purchase of land and municipally owned stores and services, which was not foreseen in the original privatization legislation.


He also said there was a proposal to hold a lottery based on the voucher numbers and to hold the draw in February or March in order to prevent their immediate sale.