MOSCOW : Flying Into Trouble

Russian air-traffic controllers are threatening to halt air travel across their vast country Friday, complaining that their commercial flights are disrupted because of military operations.

According to the Ministry of Air Transport, however, the only issues on the bargaining table are demands for higher salaries and reorganization of the bureaucracy that governs the traffic controllers’ work.

A controllers’ strike would deal a blow to the already crippled Russian economy and could set a dangerous precedent. During the last several months, the Russian government has gone to great lengths to try to limit strikes, despite expectations earlier this year that economic reform would bring widespread labor unrest.