Economist
Leanid Zaika says Russia's
decision to withhold a $500-million installment of a $2-billion loan is based
on financial considerations rather than on political ones.
"Russia is short
of cash. As my Russian colleagues told me, $500 million would be enough to
raise salaries to civil servants by six percent," he told ERB.
Russian
Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin said on October 5 that the Kremlin may approve
loans to Serbia and Bulgaria. Zaika
says that Moscow
still has doubts about the Belarusian government's ability to pay off loans.