NEMTSOV MEETS WITH PICKETING DEFENSE WORKERS.

Russian first deputy prime minister Boris Nemtsov yesterday met with picketing defense workers in Moscow (see yesterday’s Monitor) and promised to study the issues they have raised. He will meet with them again this afternoon. According to union official Vladimir Pilipchuk, Nemtsov apologized to the pickets for not meeting with them when their protest action began on Monday. The workers are holding a 5-day protest action to call attention to the paucity of government defense orders. (RIA Novosti, September 23)

European Union Deplores Public Executions in Chechnya.