Word: baltics
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...many Soviets interpret the measure differently. They see it as one more piece of evidence that Mikhail Gorbachev has given way to hard-line pressures to curtail the reforms he ushered in himself. In the past month the Kremlin has sent the army into the Baltic republics, tightened controls over television and radio, outlawed 50- and 100-ruble notes and seems to have shelved plans for introducing a market economy. Gorbachev has also authorized KGB fraud squads to stamp out so-called economic crime. A new era of repression seems to be in the making...
...rest of the country was suffering from a bad case of nerves, the troubled Baltic republics enjoyed a moment of relative calm. After meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh in Washington, President Bush said he had been given assurances that Moscow intended to withdraw some of its forces from the region and reopen talks with the republics. Interior Minister Pugo said that all paratroops, except those permanently stationed in the Baltics, and two-thirds of the Interior Ministry forces would be withdrawn by week's end. In another conciliatory gesture, Gorbachev set up Kremlin delegations to begin talks with...
There were signals too of a slight softening in the stance of Baltic leaders. "If we see signs of a reduction of the Soviet military presence in the republic now," admitted Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis, "the step can become a good signal for talks." Nationalist governments in the three republics have rejected Gorbachev's plans for a nationwide referendum in March on the future of the union. The Lithuanians and Estonians plan to hold their own polls on independence before then. That would help defuse Moscow's charges that the Baltic governments only represent the views of radical minorities...
...Pugo to explain that the reference was not to "rallies" but to "hooliganism and other criminal offenses and % nothing else." Pugo also said that each republic had the right to decide whether it wanted the army to join forces with local police. Taking him at his word, the Baltic republics and Georgia, Armenia and Moldavia promptly turned down the offer, and the Russian Federation called on Gorbachev to suspend the entire decree...
...Tisch, and last week he became the first member of the former East German regime to go on trial for abusing his power. Among the charges against him: diverting $70 million in union funds to personal projects, including the construction of a luxury hunting lodge on the Baltic...