1 About 500,000 coal miners, 80 percent of the Russian industry's workforce, staged a one-day strike today to demand overdue wages and subsidies.
2 From Sakhalin Island in the Pacific Ocean to the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, 189 of Russia's 228 mines either closed down or stopped supplying coal.
3 'If the government persists in ignoring our demands, we'll go on a protracted strike on March 1 and demand early presidential elections and a resignation of this government,' said Vitaly Budko, leader of the Russian Independent Union of Coal Miners.
4 Transport, support and maintenance workers also took part in the strike, Budko said.
5 The government owes the industry about $325.4 million. An additional $532.3 million is owed by companies, mostly government-owned power plants.
6 Budko said that in a meeting Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais refused to give the industry more than about $290 million, saying the government had no money.
7 There have been no nationwide strikes in Russia since 1989-90, when coal miners' strikes nearly brought industries to a halt and undermined the authority of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

" If the government persists in ignoring our demands , we ' ll go on a protracted strike on March 1 and demand early presidential elections and a resignation of this government , " said Vitaly Budko , leader of the Russian Independent Union of Coal Miners .
March 1
Why this date?