RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT TO UNVEIL CRISIS PROGRAM.

Prime Minister Sergei Kirienko will today unveil his “anticrisis program” which, the government hopes, will restore investors’ confidence in the Russian economy. The plan is to be discussed at a joint meeting of the cabinet and parliamentary leaders, chaired by President Boris Yeltsin. Kirienko said yesterday that the measures will be tough and unpopular, but will not threaten the poorest members of society. He said each element of the plan will be backed up by a specific law, government resolution or presidential decree. (Itar-Tass, Reuters, June 22)

Economy Minister Yakov Urinson said that a main aim of the program is to increase tax revenues. Improving tax collection is also a preoccupation of the high-level IMF delegation is in Moscow today to discuss the fate of the latest US$670 million tranche of the Fund’s existing US$9.2 billion loan to Russia. Last week, the IMF management took the unprecedented decision to go against the recommendation of an earlier IMF mission to Moscow and to delay release of the tranche. Today’s meeting is also expected to entail discussing the possibility of an additional emergency support plan for the embattled ruble. Russian leaders are said to be hoping for as much as US$10 billion, to which the IMF has reacted with extreme caution.

YELTSIN WARNS OF DANGER OF FASCISM IN RUSSIA.