Moldavians Debate Language Measure : Lawmakers Expected to Defy Kremlin, Pass Law; Strikes Spread

The legislature of the Soviet republic of Moldavia, which is expected to defy the Kremlin and pass a controversial language law, met Tuesday amid spreading strikes by ethnic Russians who oppose the proposed legislation.

People in Kishinev, the republic’s capital, clustered around portable radios on street corners to follow the live broadcast of the legislative proceedings and took part in an informal vigil in a square across from the Opera Theater, where the legislature was in session.

Meanwhile, the pro-independence popular front movements of the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia announced that they will have a special joint meeting Thursday in the Latvian capital, Riga, to work out a common response to a tough warning issued Saturday by the Communist Party Central Committee, which labeled them dangerous extremists.

The Latvian Popular Front, speaking out in advance of the meeting, denounced the Central Committee statement. It said in a statement published in the newspaper Izvestia that “the right to self-determination for the Baltic people is under threat.” The declaration from Moscow, it said, was “incorrect and imperialistic.”

Also Tuesday, the Soviet Foreign Ministry dismissed as baseless speculation that the Central Committee statement had been written by conservatives without approval from President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who is currently vacationing on the Black Sea coast.

The committee’s statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov told a news conference in Moscow, “was worked out with the participation of all members of the Politburo, and this includes the general secretary of the Communist Party (Gorbachev).”

In Moldavia, the president of the republic, Mircha I. Snegur, opened the debate in the legislature by urging quick approval of the proposed law. A vote was expected before the end of the week.

‘Extremely Gloomy’

“The mood among Russians in the city is extremely gloomy,” Yuri P. Tishenko, managing editor of the daily Sovietskaya Moldavia, said by telephone from Kishinev. “They expect this law will be passed, probably tomorrow (Wednesday).”

A spokesman at the office of the Moldavian Popular Front expressed elation.

“We are following every minute of the debate and hoping for victory,” he said.

As the legislature met, about 2,000 people gathered in the square across the street, some waving the red, blue and yellow flag of Moldavia as they waited to hear the outcome of the debate.

The spokesman at Popular Front headquarters said work in most offices had come to a standstill as people gathered around television sets and radios.

The proposed law would make Moldavian, a Romanian dialect, the official language of the Soviet Union’s smallest republic. It would also require a return to the Roman alphabet, by 1995, instead of the Cyrillic now in use. Use of Moldavian would be required in all state and business communications in the republic.

Similar language laws were passed this year in the Baltic states, but consideration of the Moldavian law comes as the Kremlin has broken with its previous policy of tolerance and launched a campaign against growing nationalism in the Soviet Union.

The Communist Party daily Pravda printed another article Tuesday lashing out at Moldavian nationalists.

“Ethnic intolerance,” it said, “has now appeared in Moldavia, fueling bitterness, mutual hostility and suspicion among people of various nationalities.”

The strike by ethnic Russians in Moldavia spread Tuesday, according to editor Tishenko. He said work had stopped at more than 100 enterprises. President Snegur said 80,000 workers are on strike.

Ethnic Russians and other non-Moldavians, who make up about 35% of the republic’s population of 4.2 million, consider the proposed legislation discriminatory.

The official news agency Tass, criticizing the proposed law, said, “Are the million and a half non-Moldavians who consider Moldavia their motherland not part of the people?”