Lithuania Won’t Yield Arms to Red Army

Lithuanian police today defied Kremlin orders to surrender shotguns and rifles turned in by citizens, but Soviet authorities warned that they will restore “law and order” in the Baltic republic.

Vilnius was calm overnight, with no reports of violence or of Soviet soldiers taking over any more buildings in Lithuania, which declared its independence from Moscow on March 11.

But Lithuanians were defying Soviet orders to turn over hunting rifles and shotguns. Lithuanian Interior Ministry spokesman Yaroslav Prokopovich said that only about 1,000 weapons have been given to police and that the police are not turning them over to the Red Army. Authorities estimate there are 30,000 weapons in private hands.

Police Capt. Jonas Dervinis said: “Lithuania has its own constitution, and we are working to enforce the law of Lithuania.”

He said he does not know whether Interior Ministry officials from Moscow will try to enforce Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s order a week ago that authorities confiscate any weapons not turned in voluntarily in seven days.

In Moscow, the Defense Ministry issued a statement saying the orders issued by Gorbachev and the Soviet Parliament remain in effect. “No one should have any doubt that law and order will be restored on Lithuanian territory.”

Gorbachev discussed Lithuania in a telephone conversation today with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, the official Soviet news agency Tass said.

“Replying to Mrs. Thatcher’s question, Gorbachev described developments in Lithuania, which have emerged as a result of the violation of the Soviet Constitution,” the news agency said.

The Soviet leader has promised not to use force unless lives are endangered in the Baltic republic, which the Soviet Union forcibly annexed along with Latvia and Estonia in 1940. But military authorities had warned that they would seize Lithuanian army deserters who did not return voluntarily by last Saturday. On Tuesday, Lithuania’s president protested to Gorbachev over the Soviets’ arrests of 23 army deserters, which he assailed as brutal kidnapings.

In Washington, President Bush and Republican congressional leaders had a “very spirited exchange” today over the showdown in Lithuania, and Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Bush convinced them that his restrained response is the best course.

Gingrich, the assistant House Republican leader, said he and the other GOP leaders opened the White House meeting by telling Bush that “we need to be more aggressive” in supporting the Baltic republic’s quest for independence.

“The question came back: What does that mean?” Gingrich said.

The Georgia Republican said he “got an education” from the President and now better understands the lack of meaningful options in what has become a delicate and tense situation in the republic that hopes to secede from the Soviet Union.

Gingrich said, “Any overt American action right now might be the pretext inside the Soviet Union for the Soviet military to decide to prove that Americans can’t intervene in Soviet affairs.”