MOSCOW : Facing the Music

Russia’s new prime minister, faces his first trial by fire on Thursday as he goes before the Supreme Soviet, the hostile national parliament, to report on what he has done in his first month to save the country from economic catastrophe.

He emphasized when he took the job that he wanted to stimulate Russian production, which fell by nearly 20% last year. But his young, more reformist ministers say that with inflation threatening to top 50% this month, the government must make that problem its top priority.

Chernomyrdin must answer for the figures before the same angry lawmakers who mercilessly brought down his predecessor, Yegor Gaidar, last month.