To be sure, government finances are in a mess. Only last month, in a deal hailed as a landmark one by investors, a huge amount of rouble-denominated treasury bills were converted into foreign-currency bonds, thus giving the Russian government a month's breathing space, but significantly raising the country's foreign debt. The state has been unable to collect taxes from the country's powerful companies, who say that if they pay taxes, they cannot afford to pay wages. Russia's bosses, the ex-nomenklatura, who have amassed riches beyond their wildest dreams, are mostly above the law. It is ironical that, although communism has died in Russia, it is the old nomenklatura who continue to occupy all important positions led, of course, by the former Communist party boss of Sverdlovsk, Boris Yeltsin. If the devaluation gets out of hand, it may well fuel spiralling inflation, social unrest, and the collapse of Russian industry---conditions ideal for extremists to exploit.