NID: USSR: BALTIC PARTIES PRESSING AHEAD

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826771
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: September 14, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826771
USSR: Baltic Parties Pressing Ahead
Lasr month's Central Committee broadside against Baltic nationalism
and the prospect of the coming nationalities plenum have not deterred
the Baltic republics' parties from pursuing an independent course even
though all three have renounced secession.
Since the Central Committee's sharp attack, the Latvian and
Estonian parties have submittcd draft party programs that advocate
greater republic party autonomy from Moscow, although neither draft
explicitly calls for an independent republic party. The Estonian party
reportedly considered deleting a reference to the 1party's leading role
in society from its program
Party leaders and popular-front members from the three republics
met last Friday to discuss forming a Baltic common market by 1993.
Under the plan, the Baltic republics would coordinate production and
would trade as a unit with other Soviet republics and foreign
countries
The Lithuanian government has shown caution, postponing the
opening of its legislative session until 24 September�the
nationalities plenum is 19-20 September�despite having earlier
bowed to public pressure to begin on 20 September. The !zgislators
plan to discuss a report that declares the secret protocols of the
1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the subsequent incorporation
of the Baltic states into the USSR illegal; they will also discuss
citizenship and election laws. Lithuanian party boss Brazauskas
has said, however, that his party still intends to meet next month
to call for an independent republic party.
Comment: The leaders of the Lithuanian party, which is the most
radical of the three parties and was criticized by name in the Central
Committee statement, probably are the most concerned about
ascertaining whether Moscow's position on autonomy has changed.
President Gorbachev's reported personal calls to Brazauskas may
have hammered home that Lithuania, the only Baltic republic with
a strong ethnic majority, has gone the furthest and has the most to
lose if the tolerant climate toward nationalism changes
Estonian and Latvian leaders, however, appear confident that the
measures pursued by their parties will not provoke a backlash in
Moscow. All three parties probably are trying, particularly on
economic issues, to mark out their positions before the plenum.
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14 September 1989
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826771