The Russian Finance Minister, Mr Mikhail Zadornov, said yesterday Russia's economic crisis was so complex the government was finding it difficult to put together a comprehensive programme to deal with the situation. He told Russian Television in an interview that the government had been forced to adopt a seat-of-the-pants approach to dealing with economic policy. Russia devalued the rouble in August and defaulted on some debt, unleashing a wave of inflation and a near meltdown of the banking system. There are growing concerns Russia will not have enough food for the long winter.

The finance minister said the government was discussing measures to bring in more tax revenue from Russian oil companies which had enjoyed a windfall since the August devaluation of the rouble made it more profitable to sell oil abroad.