Billionaire financier George Soros said his non-profit foundation plans to underwrite a five-year, $100m program to install Internet connections at universities across Russia. Soros said he remains concerned Western democracies have missed an opportunity to create open societies in the former Soviet Union. He believes the network may help build a more open society in the country. Soros plans to travel to Russia in June to open the first of 32 Internet centers in Yaroslavl, 160 miles northeast of Moscow. A money manager whose net worth is estimated at more than $1,000m, Soros has set up a global network of foundations in 24 countries throughout the former Soviet Union, in South Africa and Haiti.
