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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990                   TAG: 9005180187
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

BAKER TO MEET LEADER OF LITHUANIA TODAY

Secretary of State James Baker, venturing into sensitive pre-summit diplomacy, said Thursday he would meet in Moscow today with the prime minister of the rebellious Soviet republic of Lithuania.

Baker informed Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze of the decision as they tried to break a deadlock on arms control issues less than two weeks before the Washington summit.

"There are gaps between us still. I can't tell you we are going to get there," a senior U.S. official said of Baker's attempt to forge an agreement on nuclear weapons cuts before President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev hold their May 31-June 3 talks.

The senior U.S. official said Baker, who was planning to fly home at midday Saturday, would stay on for further talks with the Soviets if there was a chance of an accord on nuclear arms control. He is due to see Gorbachev today. "The work is intense right now," said the official, who briefed reporters under rules guaranteeing him anonymity.

Baker told Shevardnadze that he would see Kazimiera Prunskiene, Lithuania's prime minister, and "his reaction was a non-reaction," the official said.

by CNB