At the same time as Yevgeny Primakov was nominated by President Yeltsin to be the new Prime Minister, an agreement was signed between the striking nuclear defense workers and acting Finance Minister Mikhail Zadornov. Under the agreement, 317 million rubles will be allocated to the nuclear defense workers. This is about $16 million at the current exchange rate, and only half of the government’s wage arrears to the nuclear defense workers.

Employees at nuclear defense facilities in Russia laid down their tools Wednesday this week for a one-hour strike, and said they would stop work altogether unless their salary arrears were paid to them.