STORY:
Y2K Backup is Snail Mail in Moscow

US Embassy in Russia plans to use billboard and letter drop because of Y2K

The U.S. Embassy plans to help set up a network of letter-boxes and billboards in Moscow hotels and offices to allow foreign citizens to keep in contact with each other if the Y2K bug knocks out Russia's communications systems.

The embassy plans to send its staff's family members out of the country over the New Year's period and is urging other American citizens to leave because of concerns that the ''millennium bug'' will cause havoc in Russia when 1999 ticks over to 2000. About 10,000 U.S. citizens live in Russia.

Russia is widely seen as one of the countries least prepared to handle potential problems resulting from computers' two-digit chronometers possibly mistaking the year 2000 for 1900.

Even under the best of conditions, Russia's telephone system is quirky and even crosstown calls can require shouting. If computer problems shut down the phones altogether, foreigners may have to resort to the drop-boxes and bulletin boards being planned.

Diplomats say that Y2K is unlikely to cause any life-threatening situations, but could make life in Russia deeply uncomfortable, particularly if the hot water that heats most apartments goes off.

Such shutoffs have become commonplace in outlying Russian towns, and locals tend to shrug and tackle the problem with such commonsense solutions as wood stoves and showering at friends houses.

Russian authorities have said their power grid, a huge, complex system spanning eleven time zones and linked to other countries, will function normally. Operators will switch parts of the Soviet-era equipment to manual controls on New Year's Eve to prevent computer crashes.

DATE: 12/9/99

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