Word: riga
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...neighboring Latvia, special black beret units from the Interior Ministry mounted a similar show of force two weeks ago, causing fear that presidential rule would soon follow. "This invasion," declared the parliament in Riga, "is only a pretext for starting a large-scale attack on the democratic institutions of Latvia." A contingent of Baltic lawmakers gathered for a regional conference in Finland went even further. Echoing the warning of Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze when he abruptly resigned in protest last month, they charged that Moscow's display of the iron fist signaled "the restoration of the power of dictatorship...
...Vitali Ignatenko scoffed at rumors that the security establishment was ruling his boss. His denial seemed borne out by Gorbachev's ultimatum to Lithuania on Thursday. What he called the public "demand" for Moscow to take over in the Baltics actually referred to ethnic Russian demonstrations in Vilnius and Riga orchestrated by Interfront, the anti- independence league of non-Baltic workers in the breakaway republics. Massed outside the parliament building in Vilnius on Tuesday, a wave of these workers broke down the front door before local national guardsmen pushed back the assault with fire hoses. The next day the agitators...
...soldier" would be sent to the breakaway Baltic states, but that did not stop tensions from mounting in the region. Interior Ministry special forces seized Latvia's largest printing plant and brought publication of major newspapers in the republic to a virtual halt. Moscow officials said the raid in Riga was to recover Communist Party property, which was allegedly seized illegally by the republican government. In neighboring Lithuania, Interior Ministry troops took control of party headquarters, expelling local police units. Such bully tactics have raised questions about how repressive Gorbachev is prepared to be to hold his crumbling empire together...
...Riga that same day, Russian military officers and cadets in civilian clothes marched in front of the Latvian parliament. President Anatolijs Gorbunovs agreed to accept a petition from the Russians and to set up a commission to deal with their grievances. Most Baltic nationalists assume, however, that the demonstrators' real intention is to maintain Moscow's control rather than protect the rights of ethnic Russians...
LATVIA. After parliament announced that a transition period leading to independence had begun, Soviet tanks and armored vehicles rolled through Riga. Ivars Godmanis of the Popular Front was elected Prime Minister, and panic buying emptied stores of sausages and soap...