MOSCOW, April 10: As parliamentary factions continued their political posturing about the confirmation of President Yeltsin's nominee Sergei Kiriyenko as Prime Minister, hundreds of state workers held demonstrations across the country on Thursday to protest against non-payment of back wages, in some cases, for more than a year.Demonstrations began early in the Far East region, where turnout was reported to have been lower than expected. Thousands of workers, carrying Communist red flags, marched through the main streets of several cities of the region demanding the resignation of Yeltsin.People came out in large numbers in the so-called ``Red Belt'' of Russia. But in several regions workers avoided street demonstrations.In Moscow, workers held demonstrations, chanting anti-Government slogans at the White House, the main building of the Russian Government. Tight security was clamped around the White House, which in 1993 had been a scene of bloody clashes between the opposition and securityforces.The demonstrations were organised under the leadership of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions. All in all, about 900 workers' rallies were planned.According to Government statistics, public sector workers, including doctors, and teachers, were owed $ 1.2 billion, in unpaid wages as of March 1. The back wages figures for both public and private sector workers amounted to about $10 billion.Yeltsin had set a deadline of January 1 to pay off the wage arrears, but not everyone was paid, and new arrears have begun accumulating.The situation is so desperate in some regions that workers have been paid in kind, for example, in toilet papers, match-boxes, Vodka and household utensils. Even cases of cannibalism have been reported. Mikhail Shmakov, president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, has said, he supported Kiriyenko but that the demonstrations were needed to address the wage issue.Presiding over a Government meeting, acting Prime Minister Kiriyenko said, urgent measureswere being taken to pay off the back wages. About $ 120 million were sent on an urgent basis to the worst-affected regions, he said.Non-payment of back wages has been one of the biggest problems of the Kremlin. It was also one of the main reasons that Yeltsin fired the entire Government last month including Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.Speaking to journalists, Yeltsin's press secretary Sergei Yastrzhembsky said, the President was closely following the economic and social demands of the workers at the rallies and would take appropriate measures.Today, Kriyenko met Yeltsin at the Kremlin and submitted to him a list of the Cabinet members. He also acquainted him with the report which he would present to the State Duma, Lower House of Parliament, tomorrow.On the same day, the Duma is scheduled to consider his confirmation. But even the Kremlin concedes that Kiriyenko's nomination as Prime Minister almost certainly would be rejected in the first vote.Alexander Kotelnikov, Yeltsin'srepresentative in the Duma said, immediate confirmation was ``extremely unlikely''.
