Word: ignalina
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...from the U.S., thus becoming the first Baltic state to purchase the high-tech weaponry. Under the agreement, the Lithuanians will acquire 60 missiles at a cost of $31 million over three years. Lithuanian officials say the Stingers will reinforce the country's airborne defenses and help protect the Ignalina nuclear power plant from attack. But from whom? With the exception of terrorists, Baltic officials are careful to sidestep questions about just who they are defending themselves against. The Baltic states say they have been told NATO won't accept members who import new security risks into the alliance...
Energy shortages have hit hardest in Lithuania, where sparring between nationalists and the conservative Democratic Labor Party has often paralyzed economic reform. Because Russia cut off fuel supplies for much of the summer, reserves in Lithuania have run alarmingly low. The country also relies on the dangerously designed Ignalina nuclear-power plant for virtually all its electrical energy; several minor accidents have sparked fears of another Chernobyl. Angered by rising prices and political gridlock, voters were ready to give another chance to Algirdas Brazauskas, the Communist Party chief who broke with Moscow in 1989 and supported independence...
From that point the confrontation escalated. Leaflets scattered over Vilnius from helicopters urged the Lithuanians to abide by the Soviet constitution. Unscheduled military maneuvers were staged in and around the rebel state. Squads of security police arrived in the eastern Lithuanian town of Ignalina to reinforce the perimeter of one of the Soviet Union's largest nuclear power plants. These moves were accompanied by a shower of anti-Lithuanian decrees from Moscow. The most ominous was a directive from Gorbachev ordering Lithuanians to turn in their firearms. He also instructed the KGB to step up security on the borders...
| 1 |