Word: lithuania
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...landmass, so long made immutable and monolithic by rule from the Kremlin, is now quaking under the impact of Gorbachev's reforms. The Soviet republics are beginning to snap the political and economic bonds linking them to the once all-powerful center in Moscow. With the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the vanguard, some of the imprisoned peoples are battering the outside walls and intend to leap to freedom. It now seems certain that the center cannot hold onto all 15 republics. What was unthinkable only a few months ago has now become reality: the largest country...
...epicenter of the Soviet secessionist quake is in the Baltic states, which enjoyed 20 years of independence before being re-annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 under a cynical deal between Stalin and Hitler. As a result, says Sajudis president Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania "is not seeking to establish independence, but working to restore it." Visiting the republic in January, Gorbachev tried to apply the brakes with an offer to create a new Soviet federation with increased autonomy for all republics. While every republic had a constitutional right to leave the Union, he said, a law on secession procedures first...
...possible threat of martial law, Cekuolis said, "We want to keep one jump ahead of Moscow." The republic's president and Communist Party chief, Algirdas Brazauskas, called on Moscow to begin independence negotiations "in the near future" to establish "stable international relations and economic cooperation between the U.S.S.R. and Lithuania...
While the Lithuanian parliament has set up a committee to draft a declaration of independence, some nationalists favor a statement that Lithuania remains a sovereign state that has been occupied by the Soviet Union for 50 years. This would establish a firm legal basis for the independence decree and also allow Lithuanians to claim the republic's property, including 95 factories that still obey orders from ministries in Moscow. Before taking such a step, however, some Sajudis leaders would prefer to hold a referendum, in which they estimate about 75% would favor independence...
Never one to be bound by foolish consistency, Gorbachev dismissed the notion of a multiparty system as "rubbish" just a year ago and warned against taking a hasty decision on Article VI at the Congress of People's Deputies in December. Then, on his visit to Lithuania in January, he lobbed a political hand grenade, off-handedly remarking that he saw "no tragedy" in the development of a multiparty system. Last week he said the Communist Party would still struggle to play a leading role but "within the framework of the democratic process by giving up all legal and political...