rica, Japan, Third World countries

Debt - external: $130 billion (yearend 1996)

Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $13 billion (1990-96)
note : US commitments, including Ex-Im, $15 billion (1990-96); other
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1990-96), $125 billion

Currency: 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks

Exchange rates: rubles per US$1 - 5,727 (March 1997), 5,121 (1996),
4,559 (1995), 2,191 (1994), 992 (1993)

Fiscal year: calendar year

@Russia:Communications

Telephones: 25.4 million (1993 est.)

Telephone system: total pay phones for long distant calls 34,100;
enlisting foreign help, by means of joint ventures, to speed up the
modernization of its telecommunications system; in 1992, only 661,000
new telephones were installed compared with 855,000 in 1991, and in
1992 the number of unsatisfied applications for telephones reached
11,000,000; expanded access to international electronic mail service
available via Sprint network; the inadequacy of Russian
telecommunications is a severe handicap to the economy, especially
with respect to international connections
domestic: NMT-450 analog cellular telephone networks are operational
and growing in Moscow and St. Petersburg; intercity fiber-optic cable
installation remains limited
international: international traffic is inadequately handled by a
system of satellites, landlines, microwave radio relay, and outdated
submarine cables; much of this traffic passes through the
international gateway switch in Moscow which carries most of the
international traffic for the other countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States; a new Russian Intersputnik satellite will link
Moscow and St. Petersburg with Rome from whence calls will be relayed
to destinations in Europe and overseas; satellite earth stations - NA
Intelsat, 4 Intersputnik (2 Atlantic Ocean Region and 2 Indian Ocean
Region), NA Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Pacific Ocean Region), and NA Orbita

Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA; note - there are
about 1,050 (including AM, FM, and shortwave) radio broadcast stations
throughout the country

Radios: 50 million (1993 est.)(radio receivers with multiple speaker
systems for program diffusion 74,300,000)

Television broadcast stations: 7,183

Televisions: 54.85 million (1992 est.)

@Russia:Transportation

Railways:
total: 154,000 km; note - 87,000 km in common carrier service (38,000
km electrified); 67,000 km serve specific industries and ar