DELAYING PAYMENTS IS NOT THE WAY TO FIGHT INFLATION.

Noted Russian economic reformer Pavel Bunich said in an interview that the Chernomyrdin government’s massive delays in disbursing salaries and other payments are the wrong way to cope with inflation. Bunich said that the government’s behavior is illegal, and that Russian citizens can sue the government. Nizhny Novgorod governor Boris Nemtsov, a prominent member of Chernomyrdin’s election bloc, said that if Chernomyrdin continues his non-payment policy, the bloc can forget about meeting the necessary 5 percent threshold in the parliamentary elections. Unexpectedly, Boris Yeltsin also criticized Chernomyrdin for failing to pay salaries in several economic sectors during the last few months, and announced that he had signed a decree to cover government indebtedness in salary payments. (9)

Tsar’s Remains Will Be Reburied in St. Petersburg.