MOSCOW TIMES: "Russia Shrugs Off Y2K Fears, Finns Doubtful" - Finns stock up on Potassium Iodine; Moscow electrical utility becomes first in world to offer a 100% guarantee of power!

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Thursday, December 30, 1999

Russia Shrugs Off Y2K Fears, Finns Doubtful

By Melissa Akin

Staff Writer
MOSCOW TIMES

Government officials said Wednesday that they expected no problems with the Y2K computer bug, but Russia's neighbors appeared less confident in Moscow's preparedness for potential millennium complications.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who heads Russia's Y2K task force, said there would be no problems with computers misreading the year 2000 as 1900.

"Russia has prepared for this problem at least as well as the United States," Klebanov told Ekho Moskvy radio. "Nothing serious is going to happen."

But people in nearby Finland are not taking any chances. The Finns are stocking up on iodine tablets, which protect against the effects of radiation, in case something goes haywire at a Russian nuclear power plant, Reuters reported.

Reuters quoted Pekka Kaivola, senior vice president of Orion pharmaceuticals group, as saying in the last two days Finns have bought as many small-dose iodine packages as they normally do in two years, and pharmacies had run out of the 10-tablet box.

Turkey has also expressed fears about Russia's preparedness for Y2K. One senior Turkish official told Reuters that Ankara feared problems with a Russian pipeline carrying gas to Turkey.

But Russian Y2K experts say fears of major infrastructure failures are unfounded.

"If some little thing happens, so what?" said Alexander Manoshkin, head of the information technologies department at the Communications Ministry, which has headed up the government's efforts to solve the Y2K problem. "We are expecting no serious incidents."

But minor glitches are expected. And some - especially those in the business sector, which will largely shut down for the holiday - will only be felt later on, when workers return to their desks and turn on their computers to find they have been confused by the date change and have lost some data.

Andrei Barkin, an information technology specialist who has been heading up a USAID project to disseminate information on the computer problem in Russia, agreed that the effects on ordinary citizens would most likely be minimal with failures in vital areas unlikely.

City utilities, transport and telecommunications officials have put on a show of public confidence, saying if the lights fail to shine and water does not run in all factories and apartments, it won't be because they failed to prepare for Y2K.

Mosenergo, the utility that supplies Moscow with electricity and most of its hot water, says it has spent 80 million to 100 million rubles ($3 million to $3.7 million) on Y2K upgrades and checks of all its computer dependent systems, mostly located at substations and turbine generator control systems for Y2K vulnerabilities, company officials said.

"We offer a 100 percent guarantee that Y2K won't affect your heat, hot water and electricity," said Yevgeny Makhrushin, head of Mosenergo's information technology department.

Traffic lights can go on local autopilot if a central control system fails, said Yury Sidorov, deputy head of the central automated traffic control department of the Moscow traffic police.

The Moscow metro also appears confident, even overturning an earlier decision to stop the city's metro system for a few minutes before and after midnight. Pending a city decision, the trains may even work overtime to carry New Year's revelers home - until 3 a.m., said metro spokesman Konstantin Cherkassky.

The city phone company, MGTS, too, has fully modernized its equipment and replaced some at a total cost of about $100 million, said Yelena Tseplika, a spokeswoman for MGTS.

These rosy predictions are sharply at odds with dire prognoses made by Western government agencies. A U.S. Senate report even gave a timetable for Y2K failures in Russia, saying they would last up to three months.

"This is all from the realm of fantasy," said Manoshkin of the Telecommunications Ministry. "They just want to show that we are not serious, that we are not a serious country and not serious business partners."

While Moscow's Sheremyetevo Airport announced Wednesday it was absolutely prepared, the airport's head of information technology, told The Moscow Times last week that there could be minor problems.

Igor Khokhlov said while air traffic control systems had passed checks and were backed up by parallel systems at Russia's federal aviation agency, airport officials did not rule out breakdowns in other, less critical systems, such as the computerized passenger registration system. But Khokhlov said the airport had backup plans should glitches occur.

Barkin and Manoshkin agreed that when it comes to Y2K preparedness, some of Russia's old-fashioned or heavily centralized systems have worked to the national advantage.

And many potential mishaps are just a part and parcel of Russian life.

A repairman for Mosgaz, the city's natural gas utility, who asked not to be identified, said by telephone he had received no warnings or training for Y2K trouble, adding that gas leaks would be treated as gas leaks whether or not they were caused by computer glitches higher up. Mosgaz officials could not be reached for comment.

Manoshkin seemed to agree with the repairman's philosophy. "We have these problems even without Y2K," he said.

[ENDS]

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), December 30, 1999

Answers

We offer a 100 percent guarantee that Y2K won't affect your heat, hot water and electricity," said Yevgeny Makhrushin, head of Mosenergo's information technology department.

I'm surprised they didn't include the disclaimer...

However, we aren't sure if we can actually ever turn off the power or stop the effects once the meltdown occurs. You will notice a slight glow to your skin but that should wear off in a few thousand years.

Mike

================================================================

-- Mike Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), December 30, 1999.


Ever done any business in Russia? The SOBs are ALWAYS drunk. Thats the scarey thing is that TPTB over there are never operating on all their cylinders. Maybe if the manufactures of Vodka went TU they might be able to feed and house their own people.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), December 30, 1999.


WELL SAID TAZ!!!!!

-- Johnny (jljtm@bellsouth.com), December 30, 1999.

My question is why ONLY good news from Russia for over 5 days now? Not even western rhetoric...

I wonder if they have grander plans?

All is quite on the front... calm before the storm... the chilling silence...

Noswad

-- Noswad (keepAnEye@Russia.com), December 30, 1999.


As usual, the Washington Post has just the answer you need...:)

For the Record

WASHINGTON POST,
Thursday, December 30, 1999; Page A30

From remarks by Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, at the Foreign Press Center yesterday:

On the question of . . . [nuclear weapons], the good news is that weapons take people to be launched. Computers don't launch weapons. And so there's no concern that there will be any accidental launches of nuclear weapons. [Hmmm...could this argument be used somewhere in the gun control debate, Bruce?]

The only issue in the weapons area that has been of concern is whether there might be a problem on advanced early-warning systems. And the two countries that operate those sophisticated systems are the United States and Russia, and for those countries they have now set up a joint Y2K center in Colorado, where they'll be monitoring each other's warning information. So if there is any confusion or erroneous data that gets into those systems, they'll be in contact with each other. . . .

On the nuclear power plant side, we issued a report on nuclear power plants about a week ago. And the conclusion of that was that there are no safety issues with respect to nuclear power plants for the immediate period, but that there is still work remaining to be done in nuclear power plants, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia, and that it is important that that work continue, because if not, then there could be an erosion of the safety margins over a period of weeks in January and February.

) Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company [ENDS]

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), December 30, 1999.



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