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Wednesdav. February 6. 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Soviets say no to Lithuanian poll
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev stepped up his war of words with Lithuanian leaders yesterday by rejecting their independence pool set for Saturday and calling for a Kremlin-controlled referendum.
Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis insisted that the non-binding ballot would be held as planned.
"Lithuania is in observance of law, and views the president's decree as impermissible political interference in the matters of the sovereign Lithuanian state," he said in a statement by representative Rita Daupk.
The decree was sure to increase tension in the republic in the days leading up to the vote, which will occur four weeks after Soviet troops stormed several buildings in a crackdown that left 14 people dead.
The decree followed Gorbachev's order for new talks with the Baltics
and seemed a clear attempt to force Lithuanians to seek independence only on the Kremlin's terms. The decree, however, did not threaten any action if the poll was held, indicating only that the Kremlin would not accept its results.
Soviets implement own poll
"The poll and the attempt to call it a 'plebiscite on the future of the Lithuania state' (are) legally invalid," Gorbachev's decree said, according to the state news agency, Tass.
The poll cannot be seen as anything other than an attempt to block the holding of a national referendum on the question of preserving the Soviet Union, said Gorbachev, who has called for all 15 republics to vote March 17 on whether to preserve the union.
He ordered national authorities and Soviet-controlled officials in Lithuania to ensure strict implement-
tation of the national referendum.
That referendum will ask, "Do you think it is necessary to preserve the Soviet Union as a renewed federation of equal, sovereign republics in the USSR and freedoms of people of all ethnic groups will be fully guaranteed?"
The Lithuanian poll asks, "Do you support the idea that Lithuania must be an independent, democratic republic?"
Voters must answer "Yes" or "No." Victors have noted that both questions are loaded to elicit "Yes" responses.
Independence polls offered
At least five republics: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Georgia and Armenia, have refused to hold referendum, which they reject on their territory.
Three of the republics, including Lithuania, scheduled alternative polls. Gorbachev's decree yesterday
did not mention Estonia's vote March 3 or Georgia's on March 31.
The decree as reported by Tass did not say what measures would be taken to enforce the March 17 vote. Soviet authorities could call a vote on that date, but it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry out republic-wide balloting without cooperation of the local government.
Lithuanian leaders are taking advantage of the aggrivated social-political atmosphere in the republic. (Lithuania's) leadership is trying, with the help of this poll, to organize a referendum on the decree said, according to Tass.
Lithuanian voters were expected to support independence in the poll, giving ammunition to Lithuania's secession drive and likely encouraging pro-independence nationalists in other republics. Lithuania, like the other two Baltic republics, was independent between the two world wars.
Bush says Soviet president remains in control of nation
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush expressed confidence yesterday that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is still in charge and that the Soviet Union would never go back to the totalitarian,
closed-society days of the Cold War
Cold War.
The Kremlin's recent b l o o d y assaults on government facilities in the Ratiics.
and its countrywide law-and-order crackdown have spawned reports that the reformist preside no longer exercising full authority.
The Associated Press, quoting
knowledgeable Soviet officials,
reported last week that Gorbachev is, in effect, sharing power with the military and can't make decisions on his own and expect them to be carried out.
Asked at his news conference yesterday about those reports, Bush replied, "Well, he is still in charge, and he is still the president," Union, and thus, we will deal with the president of the Soviet Union.
"He has enormous problems at home," said Bush, who has repeatedly expressed support for his Soviet counterpart and his hope that Gorbachev will succeed in transforming the Soviet Union into a free-market democracy.
Croatian official vows to resign to avoid army intervention
“It’s a very troubling situation inside the Soviet Union right now,” Bush said.
The Associated Press
ZAGREB, Yugoslavia — Croatia's defense minister, wanted by the federal army for allegedly plotting armed rebellion, said yesterday that he would resign if that would avert military intervention in the rebel
resignation would be wrongly interpreted as Croatia's capitulation and an admission of guilt.
Spegelj, a retired army general, spoke in an interview with The Associated Press from a heavily-guarded safehouse in an old section of Zagreb, capital of the rebellious western Yugoslav republic.
The stand-off between the federal
army and Croatia brought the country to the brink of civil war last week. The secessionist republic defied an order to disarm its reservation militia.
The army issued a warrant for Spegelj's arrest last Wednesday, claiming he was plotting an armed uprising against federal authorities.
up giving against rest for duck nests
In a letter yesterday replying to
Jovic's threat, Croatian President Franjjo Tudjman said such a move could jeopardize security and peace in Croatia and that part of Europe.
In the letter, made available to AP, Tudjman also said the threat increased fears of a possible military intervention against non-Communist Croatia, which has been at odds with the Communist-dominated military
for more than a month.
The dispute between Croatia and the military was temporarily defused Dec. 26 when Croatia agreed to disarm its reserve police force and the federal army called off its battle alert in Croatia.
The agreement was reached despite the broadcast a secret email address to show them.
plotting to kill army officers
The film accused Spegelj and others of illegally importing weapons from Hungary.
In the AP interview, Spegelj reiterated his previous stands that the covertly-made army film was a monstrous frame-up of the Stalinist type, intended to destabilize Croatia's center-right leadership.
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