Word: gorbachevized
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...Gorbachev's preoccupation with the secessionists is understandable. "As 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...
...which two-thirds of the permanent residents vote in favor of secession. The national legislature would then review the results and set a transition period of up to five years before independence could be achieved. But that statute is unlikely to affect the fait accompli already presented to Gorbachev by the Lithuanians...
...each day passed last week, it became more apparent that Gorbachev was not going to take no for an answer from the Lithuanians. After a string of ultimatums from the Kremlin had been ignored or rejected, Gorbachev got tough...
...Gorbachev gave the Lithuanians two days to rescind a law creating a volunteer force to guard the republic's ports and borders. At the same time, some 1,500 Lithuanian deserters from the Soviet army were ordered to return to their units by Saturday. Landsbergis responded by urging deserters to seek sanctuary in churches...
...nerves began building almost two weeks ago, when Gorbachev gave the Landsbergis government three days to respond to a declaration from the Congress of People's Deputies stating that the republic's secession on March 11 had been illegal. Landsbergis replied that the Congress's resolution was "without legal foundation" and a violation of Lithuania's internal affairs...