Estonia’s Party Chief Urges Ethnic Russians to End Strike, Negotiate

Estonia’s Communist Party chief called Monday for ethnic Russian workers in his republic to end a six-day strike and negotiate differences.

Unrest flared in the southern republic of Azerbaijan, meanwhile, with thousands of people holding a rally and saying they would concentrate their strike on key industries.

Strike leaders in Estonia’s capital of Tallinn said at least 20,000 Russian workers stayed off the job to protest a new law that tightens residency requirements for voters and candidates.

“We met with strike committee representatives, and they later said they were not satisfied with the results. If so, let’s continue the talks,” party chief Vaino Vyalyas said in an Estonian TV interview.

State-run Moscow Radio said the strike has already cost millions of dollars. It said the Estonian law will take the right to vote away from more than 100,000 non-Estonians in the republic of 1.6 million people.

The new law limits voting to residents who have lived in the same district for two years, or anywhere in Estonia for five years. Candidates must live in the same place for five years or in Estonia for 10 years.

Strike committee member Alexei Kutenyov said by telephone that work had at least partially halted at 46 of the republic’s businesses, mainly in Tallinn and in the mining town of Kohtla-Jarve.

In Azerbaijan, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people demonstrated in the capital of Baku on Monday night and decided to make their strike that began earlier in the day more selective, said activist Aidin Amirbekov.

Amirbekov, a member of the People’s Front of Azerbaijan that called the strike, said the protesters decided to concentrate the walkout on vital industries.