Word: vilnius
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Lithuanians had been hoping for foreign intervention in their secession standoff with Moscow, but what they got last week was not what they had in mind. Winding up a summit in Paris, French President Francois Mitterrand and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl urged Vilnius to resolve its crisis with Moscow "through the classic channels of dialogue." To get talks going, they suggested in a letter to Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis, "it would be helpful if the effects of the decisions taken by your Parliament were suspended...
...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...
...Lithuanians have got little more than moral support elsewhere, since the Western powers are not eager to punish Moscow for squeezing Vilnius. With the warming of East-West relations at stake, they reason, the fate of a tiny republic and its 3.7 million people -- 1.3% of the Soviet population -- does not merit a fight, unless Moscow turns truly nasty. "Everybody feels for the Lithuanians," says a senior NATO diplomat, "but everybody is keeping an eye on the bigger picture...
...unlikely event that the Soviets were to promise not to seize incoming goods, Vilnius still would not have the hard currency to pay for them. Barter deals are unlikely since Lithuania does not produce much that the West would want. The republic's agricultural goods do not meet Western standards because of excessive use of pesticides. Most of its other potential exports, such as TV sets and tractor parts, are also of inferior quality...
...West's passive approach could also persuade the Lithuanians to back down, which is probably essential to a peaceful outcome. To an extent, the Western powers share Moscow's pique at the way Vilnius raced single-mindedly toward independence. Says Ilya Prizel, professor of Soviet studies at Johns Hopkins University: "They dove into the swimming pool without seeing if it held any water." That fancy dive was especially unfortunate given the fact that Gorbachev has made clear that the republic has the right to leave the U.S.S.R. as long as it follows the terms of a new secession law passed...