Moscow Criticizes Quayle on Baltics

A Soviet spokesman on Monday condemned remarks by Vice President Dan Quayle, who suggested that Washington might react if Moscow attempted to block independence movements in the Baltic republics.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov told a news briefing that Quayle’s remarks Saturday amounted to interference in internal Soviet affairs.

“The least one can say about them is that they were strange,” Gerasimov said. “They struck a discordant note against the present constructive process of dialogue with the United States. They were a departure from common sense.”

Quayle said in an interview on CNN television that Washington might respond if Moscow refused to restore independence to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940.

“Well, clearly every event triggers a response,” Quayle said. “And if there’s a negative event toward the Baltic states, I would imagine there would be a negative response.”