Research focuses on the problem of incompleteness and unreliability of the existing scientific vision of the formation and development of a market economy in Russia. In the current vision, the boundaries of the stages of formation and development of a market economy in Russia are blurred, the transition to a market path of economic development has an ambiguous interpretation in the scientific literature and is mainly associated with the 1990s. The lack of a clear understanding of the essence, sequence and continuity of the stages of formation and development of a market economy in Russia causes the uncertainty of the current stage of this process. The purpose of this research is to develop a systematic scientific vision of the process of evolution of a market economy in Russia. The study provides a historical review of the formation and development of a market economy in Russia based on the works of Doctor of Economics, prof. L.S. Shakhovskaya, who stood at the origins of the formation of the scientific concept of the market economy of Russia and in her works reflected in detail the essence and features of each stage of its evolution. This article is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Professor L.S. Shakhovskaya, was written by her students who are developing the scientific school founded by her. The proposed new scientific vision of the process of evolution of the market economy in Russia, which clearly determined the three stages of its evolution. The first stage (1991-1999) was associated with the transition from a planned to an open industrial market economy through privatization and deregulation. The second stage: (2000-2013) was the integration of Russia into the world economic system to form an open post-industrial market economy. The third (modern) stage (2014-2031) involves the strengthening of strategic academic and technological leadership for the transition to a neo-industrial market economy 4.0 through ensuring technological sovereignty. Research contributes to the development of scientific and economic thought through the formation of a systematic scientific vision of the process of evolution of the market economy in Russia, which rethought and clarified the history of the market economy in Russia, and also clarified the meaning of its current stage by reflecting its continuity and patterns of occurrence. The scientific novelty of the system vision is that it proved for the first time that the transition period is a whole set of periods involving the transformation of market relations with various targets and management measures.