RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT CAN’T MEET YELTSIN WAGE DEADLINE.

Russia’s other soldiers and workers may not be so lucky. First deputy premier Boris Nemtsov told Russian Television yesterday that it will take the government five or six months, not the three that Yeltsin promised last week, to pay off wage arrears to state employees. (Reuter, July 7) Last week, Yeltsin publicly ordered the government to pay arrears to soldiers, doctors, nurses and teachers by October 1. In an unusual show of dissent, First Deputy Premier Anatoly Chubais told Yeltsin in front of the TV cameras that date could not be met. (RTR, July 4)

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