Promises by the Russian government to start paying its multibillion-ruble debt to the ailing coal industry could prevent coal workers from staging a planned protest, a trade union leader said Wednesday.


The head of the Russian Coal Miners' Union, Vitaly Budko, said the government had promised earlier this week to pay 1.6 trillion rubles ($530 million) in subsidy arrears by the end of the year. "We reached a compromise with the government, which promised to release sums it owes the coal industry," he said.


The Russian Coal Miners' Union, which claims an 80,000 membership, is Russia's biggest miners' union.


Budko said the owed subsidies would be paid twice a month until the end of the year. He also said union leaders had decided Tuesday to refrain from organizing a mass protest in Moscow.


Demonstrations were planned for Oct. 25 to 27 in front of the White House. Miners had also threatened to strike for an indefinite period from Nov. 1. "We will not picket the White House provided the government keeps its promises," Budko said.


But he stressed that it would be up to the miners and the union's regional branches whether to take part in the national protest movement due to take place on Oct. 27.


The Federation of Independent Trade Unions, to which the miners' union belongs, has called on workers to protest across the country to draw attention to their worsening living standards.


The federation has repeatedly asked the government to press factory directors and local administrations to pay salaries on time and help redundant workers find new jobs.


As of Sept. 1 workers were owed about 3.9 trillion rubles in salary arrears, the federation said in a statement.