Word: russia
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...when the steel factory idled two of its blast furnaces. The government estimates that companies laid off about 200,000 workers in December and January, but that's probably an understatement. Yevgeny Gontmakher, an economist who heads the Russian Academy of Sciences' Social Studies Center, expects that Russia's official unemployment rate, long below 6%, will be twice that level...
...difficult to get an accurate picture of the economic disruption in Russia, where reliable information and open public discussion remain rare. As a result, the very word crisis is only now starting to enter the official vocabulary, and even then in a relatively muted way. Challenging the official line is still hazardous for any media outlet...
...weeks, as the stock market cratered and some private Russian banks wobbled, the official Kremlin line was "This is primarily an American issue." Finally, on Nov. 20, Putin admitted that Russia too was in trouble. Announcing a $20 billion economic-stimulus package and an increase in unemployment benefits, he said Russians were asking a "fair question" when they wondered about what was happening. His answer: "We will do everything, everything in our power ... so that the collapses of the past years should never be repeated in our country." Says Alexander Kliment, a Russia analyst at the Eurasia Group...
Since that speech, Putin has begun talking a little more openly about the issue. During his Dec. 4 television appearance, the first question to him came from Dmitry Salnikov from the village of Tirlyansky, near the Urals region of central Russia. "We are a young and currently jobless family," said Salnikov. "Most locals are also unemployed because they used to work for the metallurgical sector. What are we supposed to do in this situation?" Putin's answer: "Private and public authorities will have to draft an entire range of measures in an effort to preserve jobs...
...wasn't meant to turn out this way. The new Russia was supposed to replace poverty, money worries and grumbling mothers with places like Rusfinance, a Moscow call center that transports you from the gritty streets and auto-parts stores into an indoor world of cheery beige furnishings, swirling red-and-gold patterns on the walls and easy credit. Here, 450 people--mainly women in their 20s--sit side by side in booths and field calls from Russians asking to borrow money. Most of the time, the answer is a resounding yes. Owned by the French bank Soci?...