FINANCE MINISTRY ADMITS TAX COLLECTIONS ARE BELOW CLAIMS.

TheRussian government is not collecting the percentage of taxes itclaims to be, experts at the finance ministry told Russian televisionJuly 22. In fact, Moscow is taking in now about 55 percent, andnot the 95 percent, of what is owed that some officials had saidearlier. Moreover, privatization as a source of income has virtuallycollapsed: the Russian government has received only 1 percentof the money it expected to realize from sales of state propertythis year. As a result, Moscow is planning to launch a new stateloan program so that the population can invest its funds in thegovernment, just as it was required to do in Soviet times.

40 Percent of Russians Do Not Get Enough Food.