World Notes SOVIET UNION

Interrupting his work on a master's degree at the University of North Dakota, Danny Knopfle, 24, took a job one mile from the Kremlin hauling garbage. Sara Fenander, 24, became a Moscow nanny after earning a master's degree at Stanford University. They and dozens of other young Americans whose studies focused on the Soviet Union have accepted maintenance jobs in Moscow at the U.S. embassy and its diplomatic residences.

After the Soviet government withdrew the mission's 260 Soviet employees 16 months ago to protest the expulsion of its diplomats from Washington, the State Department hired a private U.S. contractor to fill the vacancies. When the firm had trouble finding Russian-speaking American maintenance workers, it hit upon the idea of sending over budding Kremlinologists.

American diplomats no longer need worry whether nanny is a spy. The graduates, paid a starting salary of about $1,300 a month, improve their Russian and learn about the Soviet Union. Says Nancy Carney, 22, a Tufts University graduate, during a break from scrubbing floors at Ambassador Jack Matlock's residence: "I'm having a ball."