Lithuania Blasts ‘Kidnapings’ : Landsbergis Fires Off Irate Protest

Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis today protested to the Soviet Union over its arrests of 23 Lithuanian army deserters who were beaten and dragged from hospitals. Landsbergis said they had been “kidnaped” in an “act of aggression against the people of Lithuania.”

In a sharply worded letter to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Landsbergis said, “The government of Lithuania demands the return of its kidnaped citizens.” He also urged negotiations with Moscow “in neutral territory.”

The letter’s angry tone and the Soviet army’s decision to round up the deserters in Lithuania marked a new, more volatile stage in the open confrontation between Lithuania and Moscow, which began March 11 with the republic’s declaration of independence. The beatings reported during the round-up were the first violent action by Moscow since the declaration.

Soviet soldiers raided two hospitals where the Lithuanian deserters had sought refuge, and witnesses said some deserters were beaten and bloodied as they were taken from a decaying psychiatric hospital in Vilnius. (Story, A1.)

Landsbergis said he feared it could presage a full-scale crackdown on his Baltic republic.

“It is obvious that the Soviet armed forces have been given permission to use violence,” Landsbergis said.

The Soviet Union today ordered all foreigners to leave Lithuania, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Gremitskikh said in Moscow. Last week diplomats and foreign journalists were told they could not travel to the republic.

In Washington, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater refused to criticize Moscow for today’s actions, saying “we do not want to inflame the situation.” Asked if Gorbachev had violated his pledge against using force in Lithuania, Fitzwater replied, “We simply are not going to try to give definition to words like ‘force’ and ‘intimidation.’ ” “We simply don’t feel that inflammatory language is helpful,” Fitzwater said.

Both President Bush and Gorbachev have a huge stake in keeping U.S.-Soviet relations on an even keel. They are to meet in June for their second summit, and hope to wrap up agreements this year on nuclear arms, conventional forces in Europe and chemical weapons.

Appealing for U.S. understanding, a Soviet diplomat in Washington defended the seizure of deserters, saying every army has a right to maintain discipline and contending Moscow was not using force against Lithuania.

“Even Vice President (Dan) Quayle admitted the other day there should be some discipline in the army,” said Sergei Chetverikov, minister-counselor at the Soviet Embassy.

On Saturday, Quayle said the Soviets should not threaten the Lithuanians but that there is a “certain amount of discipline that is absolutely imperative in any armed force.”

Quayle’s press secretary, David Beckwith, said today that the vice president “in no way countenanced the violent rounding up of deserters.”

Soviet troops also took over the republic’s showcase Communist Party headquarters today, making it the fifth party building to be seized since Sunday in the Kremlin’s bid to assert sovereignty in the republic.