
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 9, 1990                   TAG: 9005090125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TALLINN, U.S.S.R.                                LENGTH: Medium

ESTONIA CLAIMS INDEPENDENCE FROM SOVIETS

Estonia dropped the trappings of Soviet power on Tuesday, changing its name and its flag, and proclaimed solidarity with Latvia and Lithuania in the three Baltic republics' drive toward independence.

Without formally declaring independence, Estonia's Parliament reinstituted some paragraphs from its 1938 constitution, including one proclaiming Estonia "an independent republic, with the supreme state power vested in the people."

Parliament approved the constitutional changes and the traditional symbols of state by a vote of 73-14. Eighteen deputies did not vote or did not attend the session.

It dropped "Soviet Socialist" to become simply "The Republic of Estonia." And it adopted its old tricolor national flag in place of the hammer-and-sickle banner of socialism.

The deputies also adopted a resolution proclaiming Baltic solidarity and congratulating Latvia on declaring independence.

Lithuania's 3.8 million people are under an economic blockade imposed by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in an attempt to force Lithuania to rescind several laws passed since it declared immediate independence March 11. Estonia and Latvia set unspecified transition periods for secession from the Soviet Union.

On Monday, Lithuania's Council of Ministers decided to cut meat shipments to Soviet ministries by 10 percent in hopes of bartering scarce meat directly with Soviet factories for oil and other supplies, said Aidas Palubinskas, of the Supreme Council legislature's information bureau.

The Soviet government newspaper Izvestia accused Lithuania Tuesday of reducing meat and milk shipments to the Soviet Union in retaliation for Moscow's economic sanctions.

Lithuania's anti-blockade committee on Tuesday ordered preparation of a list of other strategic goods that may be pulled from export in the future, the press office said.

In Latvia, a group of legislators who oppose independence asked Gorbachev not to impose sanctions on Latvia, saying this would hurt the large number of Latvian citizens loyal to the Kremlin. The group called for a referendum on independence.

by CNB