Thousands of specialists who are cutting and modernising Russia's arsenal have been working without pay for six months or more, and due to the collapsed banking system no payments are expected for September, either.

Ivan Gradobitov, deputy chairman of the nuclear energy workers' union, said the protest started at the Chelyabinsk-70 nuclear research centre in the Urals, where more than 4,000 people stopped work for an hour and held a rally.

Similar protests will be held at other nuclear centres, and six nuclear enterprises are already in the grip of serious labour disputes, he said.

"We are preparing for an all-Russian strike which is going to be backed by protest rallies. I would like to stress again - the sooner the current political crisis is resolved the less chance there is of protests getting out of control," Mikhail Shmakov, head of the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions said in an interview on Russian Ekho Moskvy Radio.

A mass protest action is planned for 7th October.

Vladimir Kashkin of the nuclear power workers' union said the nuclear specialists were demanding that President Boris Yeltsin resign "because he has not kept any of his promises concerning social and economic development in the people's interest".

Kashkin also said that it was essential to retain "specialists who know everything about nuclear weapons," and ensure the smooth running of enterprises in the sector. He said the whole world wanted such measures because "an accident similar to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster must be averted".

In Soviet times, Russia's nuclear specialists were among the privileged class who had access to special shops and luxury items, but now they and their families are going hungry.