4 Congressmen Denied Lithuania Visas

The Soviet Union has denied a U.S. congressional delegation visas for Lithuania, where they planned to monitor elections Saturday at the invitation of the political opposition, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

The State Department, however, said it is working to reverse the Soviet decision, and the four House members boarded a flight to West Germany, the first leg of the mission, Tuesday evening.

“I have not heard any plausible explanation from any quarter for the Soviet behavior in this case,” said Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), one of the four delegates, shortly before leaving.

“The State Department characterized it as ‘old thinking,’ ” said Cox, who traveled to Poland to monitor voting there last summer.

The visa dispute called attention to the strains that can develop as the United States seeks to monitor the acceptance of democratic institutions in other parts of the world, particularly in the rapidly changing nations and republics of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

“All I know is that we’re pressing (for the congressional visas) as hard as we can in Moscow,” said a State Department official who asked not to be identified. “We are strongly urging them to grant the entry.”

Cox, after meeting Tuesday with President Bush, described Bush as “nonplussed” at the Soviet action. “He cannot fathom what the Soviets are up to and why they would want to antagonize the United States this way,” Cox said.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) named the delegates last week at the invitation of the Lithuanian independence movement Sajudis. In addition to Cox, they are Reps. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Bill Sarpalius (D-Tex.) and John Miller (R-Wash.).