MOSCOW, Oct 9: The speaker of Russia's parliament said Friday he was concerned that the new government had not yet offered a plan for dealing with an economic crisis that's nearly two months old. reports AP.

"We are not hurrying the government, but we are a bit worried by the delay in presenting the anti-crisis programme." Gennady Seleznyov, a Communist who serves as speaker of the lower house, told Russian news agencies.

Russia's long-standing economic problems turned into a full-fledged crisis on August 17 when the government announced it would allow the rouble to devalue and effectively defaulted on some foreign debt.

Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov has been in office since September 11, but his Cabinet is still formulating an economic rescue plan. The government has said it will be announced before October 20.

Seleznyov spoke to reporters following discussions about the crisis with Jacques Santer, the Cresident of the European nion Commission. The two men discussed ways that the European Union could help, but no details were announced.

Santer also planned to meet with Primakov on Friday.

Russia badly needs foreign aid to pay off a mountain of debts, but international lenders have not been willing to provide money until they know the contents of Russia's economic programme.

The only sign of a crisis-attacking plan from Primakov's government so far has been a raft published by the Russian media last week that called for a number of Soviet-style administrative controls.

Primakov, however, insists he supports continued market reforms. But he says the government must rein in the "wild capitalism" that has characterised the country's moves toward a market economy.