Russian Scientists at South Pole Posts on Strike

MOSCOW — The latest evidence that the political situation is getting hotter in the former Soviet Union came last week from the South Pole. Russian scientists at five outposts in Antarctica went on strike.

The all-male crew of 120 workers in the great frozen south has issued an ultimatum to the Russian government: Until further notice, the workers refuse to release data on the ozone layer. They will not give out information about ice samples that help gauge whether the globe is turning into a huge, orbiting greenhouse.

And they have put a full stop to their daily contribution to the scientific art of global weather prediction--the worldwide computer network that gives the five-to-seven-day weather forecasts.