Russia shrugs off forecasts of millennium chaos

By Elizabeth Piper

MOSCOW, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Russian officials shrugged off suggestions on Wednesday that the Y2K computer bug could plunge the vast country into a darker, colder winter than usual, saying their hard work to stop a computer meltdown should pay off.

Russian officials played down a U.S. State Department report which said Y2K disruptions were "likely to occur in the key sectors of electrical power, heat, telecommunications, transportation and financial and emergency services".

They said computers which support nuclear power plants, Russia's vast telecommunications network and energy supplies were being checked, sometimes changed and worked on to prevent the computer glitch hitting key sectors.

"In Russia, organisations of the highest level are working on this problem... Every region has its own internal plan to prepare for the problem," said Adrian Makeshin, deputy head of the parliamentary committee for telecommunications.

Makeshin said he believed regional leaders would comply with a government order to take measures by mid-October to prevent a computer crash.

Some challenged other countries, many of which have criticised Moscow for its slow response in waking up to the threat of the millennium bug, to state with confidence that they would not face problems when the clock strikes midnight.

"As I understand it, no one can guarantee, not one country can guarantee that they will be successful in avoiding this problem, not even us," Makeshin said by telephone.

He added that the Y2K glitch was less of a problem for Russia as the country had fewer computers.

RUSSIANS WILL KEEP WARM

Company officials were confident Russians across 11 time zones would have light and heat when the clock ticks to midnight in the depth of winter -- traditionally very cold in Russia.

Russia's national power utility UES has said it was increasingly confident that Russians would not be without light.

Yuri Bespalko, spokesman for Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry, said he did not envisage any problems with the millennium computer bug, which may scramble systems that have not been programmed to recognise the date change to 2000.

"We think that there will be no failures across Russia, we think our specific computer systems are pretty safe, they are good quality systems most of which are from the West," he said.

"Work is going well, there do not seem to be any major problems for the Atomic Energy Ministry."

Even the central bank was upbeat about the continued work of Russia's banking system, which was shattered in a crippling financial crisis last year.

"An analysis of the information...shows that in the banking system there has been certain progress in undertaking the measures to prevent the year 2000 problem," the bank said on its website. It said 80 percent of the credit organisations had taken "necessary measures".

Steps have also been taken to stop Moscow's military launching missiles against the United States.

U.S. Defence Secretary William Cohen and Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev signed a landmark agreement for officers of both countries to staff a "Y2K" joint missile launch warning centre in the United States as the new year dawns.

"The greatest Y2K danger comes not from the threat of an accidental launch, but from the threat of Y2K glitches being misinterpreted by personnel on either side of the Atlantic," said Senator Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 15, 1999

Answers

here's the link.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 15, 1999.

No problems here in Russia...but send us 3 billion $ to 'fix' it anyway.

-- Charles R. (chuck_roast@trans.net), September 15, 1999.

"necessary measures"....They need to learn words like "ready"and"conditionaly compliant"

-- Eric michael (bizarr2@hotmail.com), September 15, 1999.

... saying their hard work to stop a computer meltdown should pay off.

Russia said last year around this time that there we no y2k problems and that they will take care of it in Jan 2000. Then a few months later they came back and admitted that they do indeed have y2k problems. They were asking for money.

I'm puzzled. How did all this "hard work" happen in just six months or so? That's my point.

-- Larry (cobol.programmer@usa.net), September 15, 1999.