Word: estonians
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Mikhail Gorbachev does not like waiting. After trying several times to reach Estonian President Arnold Ruutel by telephone last week, he was in no mood for small talk when he finally got through late Tuesday evening. The Soviet President told Ruutel that he had "lost his temper" over the Estonian parliament's decision two weeks ago that declared "the state supremacy of the Soviet Union to be illegal" in the republic. What exactly did that mean? Gorbachev demanded. If the Estonians no longer recognized the Soviet constitution, what law was operating...
Ruutel had a ready response: Estonian law. Displeased, Gorbachev called the decision "improper" and summoned the Estonian President to Moscow immediately to explain himself. When Ruutel declined, the Soviet leader turned tough. If the declaration was not rescinded, Gorbachev warned, Moscow would impose the same "regimen" there as in rebellious Lithuania. Ruutel replied that Estonians understood the consequences of their actions...
...Some Estonians have concerns about the brash way in which Lithuania declared outright independence, but sympathy with the decision is widespread. Says Enn- Arno Sillari, First Secretary of the independent Estonian Communist Party: "I'd like to think the Lithuanians are paving the way for us." The Estonians prefer to take more measured steps toward sovereignty. Instead of a complete break with Moscow, the Supreme Soviet two weeks ago called for an unspecified transition period leading to "the formation of the constitutional institutions of the Republic of Estonia...
...Lithuania goes, so goes the nation," observed a senior White House official. The volatile standoff between Moscow and Vilnius came just as radical ( nationalists won a majority of seats in the local legislatures of the other two Baltic republics, Estonia and Latvia. Gorbachev's angry words had some effect: Estonian Communist Party leaders last week said the republic should negotiate its secession with Moscow, while the parliament of independence- minded Georgia postponed elections until the fall...
...U.S.S.R. for the past 50 years. Gorbachev's saber rattling aside, there is every indication he believes the three republics have the right to secede, though only after Moscow has agreed to the terms of the separation. He reiterated the point last week at a meeting with Estonian officials, reportedly saying, "In the case of a divorce, it is not important whether the marriage was contracted legally or not. The property must be divided nonetheless...