Word: lithuanian
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...really expected Deputy Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas to be the bearer of good news when he appeared before the Lithuanian Supreme Council last Friday morning. But the report that he delivered still came as a shock. Standing beneath a huge yellow-green-and-red national flag, the burly leader of the Lithuanian Communist Party offered a gloom-and-doom scenario of what lay ahead for the breakaway Baltic republic in the aftermath of President Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to cut back drastically on oil and gas shipments. "Understand me correctly," said Brazauskas, leaning on the blond wood lectern. "I have...
...four natural-gas pipelines still in operation, the republic could meet just 16% of its daily needs. That would be enough to keep bakeries, meat-processing plants and other essential factories running but would bring most industries "to their knees." Meanwhile, oil shipments had been completely cut off. Though Lithuanian authorities immediately declared that each car could receive only 8 gal. of gas a month, the supply was not expected to last for more than two weeks. Lithuanians could also expect shortages of rubber for making cables and sneakers, sodium for soap powder and television screens, and sugar for candies...
Those were bitter words for a parliament whose members had voted only six weeks earlier, 124 to 6, to declare independence from the Soviet Union. But despite the economic crisis, there was virtually no sign last week that the rebellious Lithuanians were about to retreat. When President Vytautas Landsbergis addressed the group later in the day, he reaffirmed that the government was ready to carry on discussions with Moscow "at all levels, over any question" -- except the republic's declaration of independence. Moscow's use of "blockade as a means of political warfare," said Landsbergis, has turned the republic into...
...Lithuanian government let the holiday weekend pass before discussing a response. Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskiene asked Moscow for an urgent meeting to resolve the dispute. There was no answer. The Lithuanian parliament also showed willingness to compromise on the issues bothering Moscow -- short of independence -- but warned Lithuanians to be prepared for "spiritual endurance and strict economy on all consumption." While Vilnius residents paused to buy daffodils and listen to chanting Hare Krishna disciples in a park near Communist Party headquarters, they seemed unconcerned about a long siege...
...message was hard for Moscow to miss. A sign in Russian on a pillar of the government offices read, OCCUPIERS, GO HOME! Another placard urged SOLIDARITY WITH THE LITHUANIAN PEOPLE. Representatives from the restive Baltic republics were on hand to wave their national banners alongside the flag of the short-lived Georgian Republic...