DUMA PASSES BILL TO FORCE EMPLOYERS TO PAY ON TIME.

TheRussian parliament passed on second reading a bill which wouldforce employers to pay interest along with back pay to any workerwho did not receive his wages on time, Segodnya reportedJune 24. Many Russian firms, and even the Russian government,have tried to cope with their economic difficulties by not payingwages; as a result, Russian workers have not received billionsof rubles which they have earned. The new measure would likelylead more firms to demand that the government pay them what itowes so that they could pay the workers; the Yeltsin governmentis likely to oppose the measure because it would make it verydifficult for Moscow to maintain its current federal deficit targets.In other actions, the Duma is considering laws that will createa mandatory system of bank deposit insurance and will–for thefirst time–set the rules for banks which have gone bankrupt.

Russian Bakers Cut Off Bread to Russian Troops.