Word: latvians
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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This latest sign of fragmentation in Mikhail Gorbachev's multi-ethnic empire comes just as he is trying to defuse the growing threat of secession by the three Baltic republics. Lithuania's Communist Party has already declared its independence from Moscow headquarters, and the Estonian and Latvian organizations are considering similar moves toward local autonomy. Gorbachev plans to visit the area this week in search of compromise. Now he must look southward as well, to festering nationality problems in Azerbaijan -- and the long-feared spread of Islamic fundamentalism from Iran into the six predominantly Muslim republics of the U.S.S.R...
...independence from Moscow and, to save itself, lined up with the republic's strong separatist movement. Earlier last month, the Lithuanian parliament voted to abolish the party's constitutionally guaranteed monopoly on power -- a move Kremlin leaders have been resisting on the national level. Just last week the Latvian parliament followed its neighbor in eliminating the Communist Party's unique leading role. Lithuanian party leader Algirdas Brazauskas organized the breach with Moscow to shore up credibility before local elections on Feb. 24. "Without these changes," he said, "our party will lack the appeal necessary to guarantee its existence...