First I would like to say that, speaking of documents, there is a presidential decree on spending, and the government has to implement it strictly in order to ensure that this is the way spending is effected.

Boris Yeltsin (in Russian)

Secondly, with regard to taxes. The level of tax collection is low. We have to make the public used to paying taxes - not just enterprises etc., but private individuals too.

In this country, it is the rich who are used to not paying their debts.

We have to make them pay. Some should be brought to book. We do, of course, have the names.

We obviously need foreign investors to be certain that there will be no disintegration, no collapse of the financial market in Russia, so that they do not flee Russia but on the contrary, flock into Russia.

Today the [Central] Bank and the Finance Ministry have sufficient reserves to hold out.

This is the important thing.

Source: Russia TV, 0700 GMT, 28 May 1998