AKIpress News Agency (Kyrgyzstan)
February 25, 2009 Wednesday

Almost half of Russians condemn their Government for assistance to CIS
countries

Almost half of the Russian population (49%) believe that the
Government should spend funds to support its own economy in crisis,
instead of providing assistance to other countries, according to the
findings of the poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion
Studies Center on February 14-15, reported Lenta.ru.47% of respondents
described anti-crisis loans extended by Russia to its states-allies as
"non-refundable spending". 40% of respondents said these funds are
investments that will bring many benefits to Russia in future.Since
late 2008 the Russian authorities have extended stabilization loans to
several allied states, including former CIS countries. Belarus and
Kyrgyzstan received $2US billion, Armenia – $500US million. Russia
also extended funds to Cuba.In early February Eurasian Economic
Community member states made a decision to set up the joint
anti-crisis fund worth $10US billion. Russia will contribute $7US.5
billion for this fund.