Russian controllers scrape by on pittance

Hard to believe.

Russian specialists keeping vigil over the International Space Station and its crews haven't received a pay raise in two years and some are getting by on $25 a week, Ria Novosti reports.

"We have people who have to live on 3,000 rubles (just over $100) a month. This is humiliating," Alexander Kireev, chief of the Ballistic Service Coordination Group at the Russian Mission Control Center, told the Russian news agency.

Kireev, who has been working at MCC-Moscow since 1977 and now is a branch chief, makes less than minimum wage workers in the United States.

"I make less than 10,000 rubles ($354) a month," Kireev told Ria Novosti.

Kireev said the low wages and lack of a pay raise are causing morale problems at MCC-Moscow, which is located in the town of Korolev. Specialists who work there often take second and even third jobs to pay the bills.

"Sooner or later," Kireev told Ria Novosti, "this will affect the overall quality of our work."