Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alex who wrote (14328)	7/10/1998 12:15:00 AM
From: Lucky Lady	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116774

Alex, WOW!

To: Alex who wrote (14328)	7/10/1998 2:30:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116774

Yeltsin vows to "crush" uprizing .. Is it coming ? Yeltsin seeks world backing in Russia crisis 12:07 p.m. Jul 10, 1998 Eastern By Anatoly Verbin MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Boris Yeltsin sought support from foreign leaders on Friday to overcome a severe economic crisis but he said Russia was strong enough to crush any ''extremist'' attempt to seize power. Yeltsin, who has said the crisis might be dangerous socially and politically, also decided to stay in Moscow next week, putting off his summer holiday in the Karelian lakeland. ''Russia needs strong authority rather than a strong hand,'' he said in televised remarks to senior military officers at a ceremony in the Kremlin. He called the officers ''a reliable support'' both for Russia and for him personally. ''We have enough force to cut short any extremist plans to seize power,'' he said. ''They will fail.'' The 67-year-old leader is known for his acute sense of political danger, and his burst of activity indicated Yeltsin saw an urgent need for his personal intervention, both in securing foreign aid and in reasserting his grip on power. A Kremlin statement said Yeltsin had just spoken by telephone with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. ''They discussed the situation on world financial markets, and implementation of a programme of anti-crisis measures by the Russian government,'' it said. Yeltsin also planned to speak with U.S. President Bill Clinton and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Michel Camdessus. The government has for years battled low tax revenues and a vicious circle of non-payments between enterprises, leading to delays of many months in paying millions of workers. The crisis has become especially acute as a result of Asia's financial crisis, a big drop in world oil export prices and Yeltsin's sudden sacking of the government in March. All those factors shattered investors' confidence and they have abandoned Russia's markets in droves, leaving the government staggering under a mountain of short-term debt. While trying to push its package of anti-crisis laws through both chambers of parliament, the new cabinet of Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko is also seeking up to $15 billion from the IMF, the World Bank and private lenders. The IMF is generally positive but says the cabinet must first get parliamentary approval and prove its plan is working. John Odling-Smee, a senior IMF official, arrived in Moscow for loan talks and Russian debt negotiator Anatoly Chubais told the Wall Street Journal he expected a preliminary deal on new IMF credits by Saturday. Kiriyenko got a boost from the Federation Council, the upper chamber of parliament, when it voted overwhelmingly to support in principle the government's anti-crisis proposals. Most of the laws underpinning the programme have still to be adopted by the communist-led State Duma, or lower house, and only then can they be considered in detail by the Federation Council. Kiriyenko told the Council that local financial markets had deteriorated and social tension was rising, but vowed to meet domestic debt servicing obligations. ''The situation on financial markets has got worse, treasury bill yields are rising, social tension is also growing. We are ready to consider any proposal, but we simply cannot fail to repay treasury bills.'' Russian shares ticked up on Friday morning. The Reuters real-time dollar-denominated RTS index had risen 4.40 percent to 92.33 at 0920 GMT on moderate volume of 93 million shares. But bad news kept streaming in. Rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating of six Russian banks and Agriculture Minister Viktor Semyonov was quoted as saying Russia would harvest just 64 to 67 million tonnes of grain in 1998, down from 88.5 million last year. The Russian central bank reiterated on Friday that it would not relax its tight monetary policy soon and issued a stern warning to commercial banks against the risks of selling roubles. Russia's problems have sparked labour unrest. Angry coal miners have been blocking the vital Trans-Siberian railway for the past week in a repeat of actions which brought rail traffic across much of the country to a standstill in May. In a separate development, the government admitted defeat in its attempts to raise $1.6 billion quickly by selling the last major oil asset in state hands, Rosneft, and extended the tender for a 75 percent stake in the company to October from July. A Kremlin statement said Yeltsin would ''work intensively'' in Moscow next week. Russian news agencies had widely reported preparations for him to go on holiday from mid-week. Yeltsin has already cancelled a number of foreign trips in order to focus on domestic problems. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.