Word: lithuanian
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...President will need all the support -- or courage -- he can muster to handle the challenges of his office. Conspicuous by their absence during the voting were most of the Lithuanian Deputies. Four days before, their state parliament had picked a President of its own, Vytautas Landsbergis, the soft- spoken head of the Sajudis popular-front movement. In one of his first official acts, Landsbergis proclaimed Lithuania an independent state. The bold show of defiance drew a rebuke from the congress, which overwhelmingly affirmed that Soviet laws "continue to apply on Lithuanian territory." Gorbachev labeled the Lithuanian decision "illegal and invalid...
Despite some morning-after trepidation, the Lithuanians are determined to establish customs and visa procedures, print their own currency and even lease planes from state-owned Aeroflot to start a Lithuanian airline. If Gorbachev continues to demand an indemnity of some $34 billion for Soviet investment during the past five decades, the republic is prepared to submit a bill of its own for compensation for the 300,000 citizens that the Lithuanians claim were killed, imprisoned or exiled as the Soviets took control of their homeland and for economic mismanagement by the Kremlin. An equally contentious issue is what...
...Lithuanian leaders denounced Gorbachev's arguments as "trickery" and pressed ahead. The republic's Communist Party organization had already declared itself independent and moved closer to Sajudis in an attempt to build some credibility among the voters who now would decide its future. Last month the local parliament declared its 1940 accession to the U.S.S.R. "unlawful and invalid...
Gorbachev's reach for such extraordinary powers prompted Lithuanian leaders to advance to March 4 runoff elections in 20 of the 51 undecided districts. That will enable them to convene the new Lithuanian Supreme Soviet before Gorbachev is officially invested with his new powers at a Congress of People's Deputies session scheduled to begin on March 12. Reflecting on the 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...
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...