Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990 TAG: 9006020003
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
Yeltsin's offer openly defied Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, who ordered a partial economic blockade against Lithuania in an effort to force it to back off its March independence declaration.
Yeltsin, who was elected president of the Russian Federation on Tuesday, met with Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis for "a very friendly talk with full mutual understanding," said Natasha Boganova, secretary of the Lithuanian representation in Moscow.
"Yeltsin is prepared, as soon as Russia gets its sovereignty, to cooperate fully with the Baltic republics, and Lithuania first of all," she said.
Lithuania, struggling to circumvent the Kremlin blockade, has been seeking direct ties with newly elected radical leaders in various parts of the country.
On Thursday, the legislature of the republic of Moldavia recognized Lithuania's independence, the official Tass news agency reported. It was the first Soviet republic outside the Baltics to do so.
Gorbachev has said Lithuania must suspend its declaration of independence before he will lift the economic blockade and begin talks with Lithuanian leaders. Lithuanian lawmakers have offered compromise measures but balked at suspending the declaration.
Yeltsin has said he expects the Russian parliament to declare the Russian Federation's sovereignty within the first 100 days of his term. The Russian Federation is the Soviet Union's largest republic, with two-thirds of its territory and just over half its population.
Sovereignty would mean republic authorities would have final say over which Soviet laws are valid on Russian territory, and greater independence in general from the national government, including on economic issues.
If Russia were to resume supplying Lithuania with natural gas, oil and other raw materials, it would mean the virtual end of the Kremlin's sanctions - without Gorbachev's consent.
Yeltsin said repeatedly during his election campaign that he would seek direct ties with Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which is also seeking independence. Friday's meeting was his first reported concrete move to begin establishing those ties.
All three Baltic republics were forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
by CNB