RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING BUDGET TODAY.

The Russian cabinet is meeting today to discuss the revised version of the 1998 federal budget drawn up by the government/parliament conciliation commission. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has asked the Duma to debate the budget and a package of amendments to existing tax legislation before the end of the week. (RTR, October 27) But First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais, who is visiting London, told the Financial Times that the Communist-dominated Duma is unlikely to approve the budget prior to November 7, which marks the 80th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. "The Communists have to have something on the table for the celebration of the anniversary," Chubais said. "I am afraid that a positive budgetary decision would not be the best present for the Communist electorate on November 7." Chubais was optimistic however, that once the symbolic date is past, the Duma will be ready to do business. "I am not sure that we will have the budget approved by December 31," he said, "but at the beginning of 1998 — January, in the worst case February." (Financial Times, October 28)

Russia and Chechnya to Hold International Conference.