CHELYABINSK MINERS LIFT RAIL BLOCKADE.

Coal miners in the southern Urals district of Chelyabinsk yesterday agreed to lift their three-week blockade of the Trans-Siberian railway. Late last night, representatives of the Independent Mineworkers’ Union signed an agreement with regional Governor Peter Sumin and the chairman of the regional coal company. (RTR, August 12) They did so after unarmed police intervened to prevent striking miners from extending their pickets further along the railway line. Miners’ leaders have been threatened with criminal prosecution over the blockade and, earlier in the week, police in Moscow called in Aleksandr Sergeev, leader of the Independent Mineworkers’ Union, for questioning about the actions of union members in Chelyabinsk. (Itar-Tass, August 11)

RUSSIAN PRESSURES ON LATVIA AIM TO RECOUP INFLUENCE.