 In subsequent years WIR supported workers in Germany and other countries suffering from the effects of strikes, armed conflict, and natural catastrophes by distribution of clothes, food, and funds by adding an "industrial assistance program".Initial funding of WIR was through secret Soviet funding in the form of ten million paper rubles ("sovznaki") issued directly from the Soviet Central Bank.Most of WIR's funding assistance was provided through bank credits backed by the Kremlin; other sources included fund drives and tool/technology donations from other countries, from sales of confiscated assets, and from sales of donated foreign equipment such as tractors to private bidders and enterprises inside the Soviet Union.