Moscow - Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is ready to dish out 5 million dollars (3.9 million euros) to pay the wages of national team coach Guus Hiddink and his staff, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

The agency cited the head of Abramovich's football acadamy, Sergei Kapkov, as saying that Abramovich has announced the payment as the salaries weren't paid on time by the Russian football federation.

The Chelsea owner Abramovich is to transfer the money to the Russian football federation to guarantee the salaries. The Dutchman Hiddink, who led Russia into the Euro
2008 semi-finals, reportedly earns almost 1.5 million dollars per year. (dpa)