May 6, 1997

MOSCOW (AP) - Budget cuts planned by the Russian government will severely affect the country's defense spending, slashing it by more than 20 percent, legislators said Tuesday.

The cuts come amid a massive financial crisis caused by drastic shortfalls in tax and revenue collection. Millions of workers and pensioners have not been paid for months.

Gennady Kulik, deputy head of parliament's budget committee, said the plan envisages a cut of some 20.3 percent in defense spending, from 104.3 trillion rubles (dlrs 18 billion) to 83.1 trillion rubles (dlrs 14.2 billion).

Another deputy head of the committee, Alexander Zhukov, said the cuts would only mean that less money would be spent on purchasing new weapons and ammunition, without affecting servicemen's salaries.

The cuts will have little practical meaning for the army, since it is far from receiving its entire budget and has long cut back on training and other expenditures. Many servicemen go unpaid, just like state workers.

Defense Minister Igor Rodionov said recently that the army received only 40 percent of its budgeted funds for food and 2 percent of its money for other supplies during the first quarter of 1997.