Interviews are available with these specialists on Russia and the International Monetary Fund:

DAVID KOTZ
Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and coauthor of Revolution from Above: The Demise of the Soviet System (Routledge, 1997), Kotz said: “The dominant theme that the problems in Russia are due to not having the courage to follow the IMF advice is almost the opposite of the facts. Russia has followed the IMF more closely than anyone could have expected. The result is that the people have been impoverished. Now, the IMF is demanding more of the same. (Imagine if in 1933 someone had said that the solution to the U.S.’s problems was to cut government spending, increase taxes, and tighten up on credit.) What’s needed is increased public investment in infrastructure and government support of productive industry. While Russia has just defaulted on creditors, they’ve been defaulting on their debt to their workers for years — 35 to 40 percent are not being paid at all, and another 30 percent are paid late. The Yeltsin regime is dependent for its existence not only on the IMF, but on the financial barons who have been allowed to steal so much of what is valuable in Russia in the chaos that these policies have caused. Yeltsin has allowed massive corruption and organized criminal activity.”

FRED WEIR
Coauthor with Kotz of Revolution from Above, Weir is a journalist who has lived in Moscow for 10 years and has written for Canadian Press, In These Times and Moscow Times.

KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL
Editor of The Nation and co-editor with Stephen Cohen of Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev’s Reformers.
More Information

DAVID JOHNSON
Research Director for the Center for Defense Information and editor of CDI Russia Weekly.
More Information

MARK WEISBROT
Research Director for the Preamble Center and a specialist on the IMF who has followed events in Russia.
More Information

CAROL WELCH
Policy Analyst specializing in the IMF for Friends of the Earth.

DEAN BAKER
An economist for the Economic Policy Institute.
More Information

DAVID BACON
Associate editor of Pacific News Service who has written extensively on the impact of reforms on Russian workers and unions.
More Information

For more information, contact Sam Husseini at the Institute for Public Accuracy, (202) 347-0020.