Yeltsin’s New Web Site Provides Facts and Figures, but They Don’t Compute

Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin went high-tech this week and put his own page on the World Wide Web--but it may be more notable for what it leaves out than for what it reveals.

With pictures of the Kremlin and the traditional double-headed eagle of Russia decorating his Web site, Yeltsin takes a step toward the era of political disclosure and divulges tidbits about his real estate holdings, official perks and luxury travel.

But his Web page falls short of living up to his own demand that public officials report their personal and family income as well as property holdings. Indeed, the page pegs his income and real estate at much less than the amount his own office made public last week.

The site (http//www.gov.ru) also points up another presidential inconsistency: While Yeltsin has ordered all government officials to give up foreign-made cars, he reports via the Internet that he still rides around in an armored Mercedes-Benz limo in addition to a Russian-made Zil.

“The reason for creating this Web page was to more fully inform everybody interested about the president and his work,” said Yevgeny I. Mashkov, a presidential spokesman. “The contents of the page will expand and include texts of presidential briefings and speeches.”

But why does the page report that Yeltsin is still riding in the kind of foreign-made car he ordered his subordinates to abandon? “This question is not for me,” Mashkov said. “It should be addressed to the president.”

Yeltsin’s page is a sign that the Internet is beginning to catch on in this impoverished nation, where distances are vast and travel often difficult. Even so, there are still only about 50,000 Internet subscribers in Russia, most of them in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

But in Russia, far more novel than the Internet is the idea of public officials disclosing their personal holdings.

Last month, in an attempt to fight widespread corruption in his administration, Yeltsin ordered all officials to report on their personal finances and pledged to do so himself.

His page declares that he receives 10 million rubles a month as president--the equivalent of about $1,730. Of this, he pays an undisclosed amount for taxes, medical insurance and his pension. He receives income from two books he wrote and donates much of it to charity--although no amounts are specified.

The president’s official residence is the Kremlin, and his official suburban residence is the luxurious government dacha known as Gorky-9, the site reports. Nevertheless, it attempts to cast him as a man of the people, asserting that he lives with his extended family in an apartment he pays for himself:

“The president of the Russian Federation, his spouse and the family of their younger daughter--which consists of four people--live in a five-room apartment in the western region of Moscow,” it says. “The president pays his own rent and communal services, and he pays for personal things and clothes.”

Besides various government residences at his disposal, Yeltsin and his wife, Naina, own their own dacha and a 1995 BMW, according to the Web page. There is no explanation of how Yeltsin acquired these on his meager government salary.

Last week, Yeltsin’s press office presented a different picture of the president’s finances. It put his monthly income at about $3,500 a month. And it disclosed that in addition to the dacha--and the 10 acres of land it sits on--the Yeltsins own other real estate valued at $206,000, a sum far beyond the means of most Russians.

The Yeltsins have two daughters, and the Web site notes that one Yeltsin son-in-law, Valery Okulov, “works at Aeroflot,” Russia’s largest airline. The Web page neglects to mention that Okulov is the airline’s president.