Kremlin Decries Unrest in Estonia : Blames ‘Anti-Soviet Groups’ for Nationalist Hysteria

The Kremlin appeared Tuesday to be gearing up for a showdown with the leadership in Estonia after publication of a commentary in Pravda, the official Communist Party daily, that blamed “openly anti-Soviet groups” for what it described as spiraling nationalist hysteria in the Baltic republic.

The unsigned commentary, which according to Soviet sources had Central Committee approval, is the strongest official criticism to date of the Estonian leadership for failing to curb ethnic nationalism.

A government team flew from Moscow to Tallinn, the Estonian capital, to try to end a seven-day strike by Russians that has shut down about 50 enterprises and paralyzed railway traffic into and out of the port city.

Moscow’s policy over the last year has been to grant increasingly broader freedom to Estonia and the other two Baltic republics, Lithuania and Latvia, in an apparent effort to counter activist demands that the republics be granted full independence from Moscow.

But the walkout by Russian workers was a signal that they would not sit passively by while, as they see it, their rights are eroded with Moscow’s tacit approval.

Pravda threw its weight behind the Russian workers and accused the Estonian legislature of “passing discriminatory acts (which have had) an extremely destabilizing influence on the political situation.”

“Openly anti-Soviet groups have become activated,” said the editorial, which was read on state-run Radio Moscow and carried in part by Tass, the official news agency. “A nationalist hysteria is building.”

5-Year Residence

At issue is legislation enacted last week that limits the vote to citizens who have lived for two years in a district or five years in the republic. Moreover, the law requires that any candidate for local office provide proof of residency for five years in a district or 10 years in the republic.

Russians living in Estonia, many of whom have short-term work contracts in factories or rail or shipyards, started striking a day after the Estonian Supreme Soviet approved the law.

Russian activists, who formed a group called Inter-Movement to organize their counter-rebellion against the Estonians, demanded that the legislation be repealed. They said it would disenfranchise about 120,000 Russians living in the republic of 1.5 million people.

The nationalistic Estonian Popular Front movement has said that the legislation is necessary to ensure that Estonians get positions of power instead of the Russian minority, which in the past was installed by Moscow in leadership posts.

Repeal Apparently Sought

Pravda called on Estonian citizens to disassociate themselves from the Popular Front activists and appeared to call on the Estonian leadership to end the tension by repealing the controversial law.

It said: “The situation demands that every Communist adopt a principled position in fighting for the party and resolutely distance himself from those who, under the cover of democratization and glasnost , started this struggle against socialist humanistic values.”

Conservative critics of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s twin policies of democratization and glasnost , or openness, have warned that extremists are being allowed to ignite long-dormant passions. They have warned that the resulting protests, which have led to ethnic violence in some republics, could lead to a breakup of the union of 15 republics.

But Soviet analysts said Moscow clearly hopes that the Russian-Estonian conflict will be resolved without direct interference from the Kremlin.

The Soviet minister of justice, Vinyamin F. Yakovlev, said last week that the Estonian law is unconstitutional. But Estonia’s Parliament declared last year that its laws supersede the laws of the Soviet Union.

Estonian party leaders have said that the Russian strike is illegal because it is a purely political action. But Estonia’s Communist Party chief, Vaino Vyalyas, conceded Monday that Estonian leaders had ignored the Russians’ concerns, and he called for a negotiated settlement.

He added, however, that the voting law will under no circumstances be repealed.

The government team that flew to Tallinn went immediately into closed-door meetings with local government and party leaders. Yaarika Saarna, a reporter with Estonian state radio, said the Moscow negotiators are all members of the Supreme Soviet’s commission on inter-ethnic relations.

Protests are expected in Tallinn and the two neighboring Baltic republics next week on the 50th anniversary of the signing of a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany, which included secret protocols that cleared the way for annexation of the republics in 1940.