KREMLIN SEEKS TO END STRIKES IN BALTIC

August 17, 1989

Kremlin leaders met yesterday with the President of Estonia to consider ways to end a week-long strike by Russians complaining of discrimination in the Baltic republic, Soviet news media said. The strike by tens of thousands of ethnic Russians and other non-Estonians is in response to a new law that limits the right to vote and hold office to long-term residents of the small republic. The workers are also upset about a new law requiring many of them to learn to speak Estonian.

The walkout involving some 26,000 workers at about 40 enterprises has paralyzed rail cargo around Tallinn, Estonia's capital.