Bush Cautions Soviets on Use of Force in Lithuania, Declares It Will ‘Backfire’

President Bush warned the Soviet Union today that any attempt to intimidate or use force against the breakaway republic of Lithuania “is bound to backfire. That is inevitable.”

Bush coupled his statement with a declaration that the United States stands with the people of Lithuania “and supports their right to self-determination.”

Soviet armor rumbled through the Lithuanian capital’s streets on Thursday, prompting concern that increasing Kremlin pressure would lead to violence. Today, Administration officials said the Soviet Union has ordered foreign diplomats and at least some journalists to leave Lithuania.

Bush told a White House gathering, “Any attempt to coerce or intimidate or forcibly intervene against the Lithuanian people is bound to backfire. That is inevitable.”

Bush spoke about Lithuania as he opened a news conference with editors and reporters from out-of-town news media.

Declaring solidarity with Lithuanians, Bush said, “this is a complex and sensitive time, when realistic, levelheaded leadership is required on all sides.”

“Lithuanian leaders have consistently demonstrated their capacity in this regard, and the United States will do nothing that will make their task more difficult,” he said.

“We know the Soviet Union has a longstanding interest in Lithuania but those interests can only be addressed through dialogue and negotiations,” Bush said.

Responding to a question, Bush said he has not seen any intelligence suggesting “some kind of conflagration over the weekend” in Lithuania.

Nevertheless, he said, “it is a matter of considerable tension. I hope those tensions can be released through negotiation.”

On other subjects, the President:

Said that “I don’t think this is the time to change the policy on sanctions” on South Africa, even though he has been reviewing the sanction issue within his own Administration and with congressional leaders.

Said his Administration is looking into ways of shifting shipping lanes off the coast of California to keep oil tankers farther away from beaches. He said it is impossible to deny access to tankers to West Coast ports, but said “we can go the extra mile in terms of environmental protection.”

Defended spending money to aid new democracies instead of putting more into domestic programs, saying it is important to “help create stable democracies that will actively trade with the United States.”

Said the federal government should not set itself up as a censor of controversial art, but declared, “I am deeply offended by some of the filth that I see and to which federal money has gone and some of the sacrilegious, blasphemous depictions that are portrayed by some to be art.”

He said he had seen “two horrendous examples of what I would call blasphemous material that has no business of getting one cent of the taxpayers’ money.”