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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991                   TAG: 9102070045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. WILL AID BALTICS

The Bush administration announced Wednesday that it will begin sending relief supplies directly to the Baltics and the Ukraine, circumventing the Soviet central government in an apparent response to Moscow's violent crackdown on nationalist dissent.

White House officials stressed that the assistance was not intended to undercut the efforts of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis the secessionist movements pose. But it nevertheless establishes the first direct relationship between the United States and the three Baltic states that are seeking to break away from the Soviet Union.

The announcement came as Secretary of State James Baker said he will recommend against submitting a conventional-arms control treaty to the Senate for ratification because of Soviet moves to circumvent some treaty restrictions.

by CNB