Russia: January 28, 2001

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Russian soldiers are complaining about delays in getting paid. Contract (volunteer) soldiers are supposed to be paid an average of $2,900 a month. Many say they have not been paid in four months, except for a nominal payment of $42. The soldiers also complain of poor living conditions.  There are still some 80,000 troops in Chechnya. Meanwhile, a recent survey showed that Russia is catching up in the personal computers department. There were very few PCs in Russia when the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Now, a quarter of the population has used a computer, mostly at work or school. Only about four percent of Russians have a computer at home. And only 6.5 percent use the Internet, with only .5 percent logging on every day.