COAL MINERS, HYDRO WORKERS, AND METRO ENGINEERS THREATEN STRIKES.

Miners on Sakhalin Island told Russian radio August 23 that theywould go on strike unless their back wages were paid. (One miningofficial told Russian television the same day that the coal enterpriseshad generally received payments from the government this yearbut could not pay miners because other enterprises were not payingthe coal companies what they owed.) Meanwhile, workers at a hydroelectricplant at Bureya said they would strike over back wages, Segodnyareported August 23. And machinists at the Moscow subway threatenedto strike in order to force the system’s management to improvesafety for riders, Moscow’s Echo radio reported August 23.

Russian Authorities Persecuted 220 Journalists in Chechnya,Paper Says.