22 JUNE 1996, Page 19

Mafioski's market

I SUPPOSE the best news out of Russia is that someone has been stealing government bonds. It should hearten the International Monetary Fund, which now has fortunes at stake there. Crime in that country knows its markets and is one of the few forms of pri- vate enterprise to have taken root. The election results (Nijni Novgorod West Communist gain: recount at Dacha-on- Volga) have given bonds a lift, and some mafioski must now think they are worth the paper they are printed on.