ON THE FINANCIAL FRONT:

Anatoly Chubais, the former Russian privatization chief, who was given the job of coordinating Russia’s relations with the IMF, confirmed that Russia needs the help of international financial institutions to weather its present dire financial crisis.

Contrary to Russian government claims that Russia could cope with the financial crisis on its own, Chubais said that Russia is hoping for a stabilization fund of between ten and fifteen billion dollars. He is expected to make his case for the money in talks scheduled to begin on June 23.

Russia’s financial markets rallied last week on news that the IMF is sending a mission to Moscow and some type of help for the Russian economy may be forthcoming but Russia’s economic situation remains extremely fragile. Russia must regain the confidence of international investors, which was severely shaken by the worldwide turmoil in emerging markets, if it is avoid a potentially destabilizing ruble devaluation.

On June 17, the Russian Finance Ministry canceled two or three planned auctions of high yielding treasury bills. Many took this as a sign of the government’s optimism that the IMF mission will come up with large scale–and less expensive–life saving measures.