WORKERS CONTINUE PROTESTS.

As of yesterday, 161 miners were refusing to leave their pit in Norilsk in the Russian Far North. They remained underground to demand payment of wages and holiday benefits due to them since November. In Vladivostok, in the Far East, 20 scientists of the Eastern Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences are threatening to start a hunger strike today; they complain they have not been paid since October. Meanwhile, Yeltsin assured a meeting of award-winning scientists in the Kremlin yesterday that the government will clear all its debts to the academic community by February 25. The president said he is well aware of the plight of Russian scientists and the dwindling prestige of science and education. He said urgent measures have been taken to redress the situation and that the plight of scientists would soon be "somewhat eased." (6)

IMF Team Arrives, Government Gives In on Oil Export Tariffs.