Troops in Lithuania Crackdown : Soviets Met by Defiance, Seize Office

Soviet troops occupied Lithuania’s Prosecutor’s Office today after its staff members refused to take orders from a new chief prosecutor appointed by Moscow, Lithuanian officials said.

It marked the first time Soviet soldiers have taken control of a Lithuanian government building since the Baltic republic defied Moscow and declared its independence March 11.

The report came several hours after the White House announced that President Bush had sent a letter to President Mikhail S. Gorbachev calling for a peaceful resolution in Lithuania.

The letter, sent via diplomatic channels on Thursday, stated Bush’s “support and the American support for the aspirations of the Lithuanian people for self-determination,” presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

The trouble began at the Prosecutor’s Office earlier today when Moscow officials fired Lithuania’s chief prosecutor in a bid to make the republic adhere to Soviet law, then tried to install a new prosecutor of their choosing.

The move failed when the office’s employees said they would remain loyal to their former boss. The dispute became a standoff, with both chief prosecutors trying to run the office at the same time.

Several hours later, soldiers of the Soviet Interior Ministry, with the help of one employee, took over the building, Egidius Bickauskas, a Lithuanian legislator, said on the republic’s television. He did not elaborate.

He accused the Soviet Union of violating the republic’s sovereignty.

A Lithuanian Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed that Soviet soldiers were inside the Prosecutor’s Office. He also said the soldiers had moved into the Institute of Party History.

A foreign journalist who rushed to the scene said he saw a truckload of Soviet Interior Ministry soldiers enter the building.

Soldiers previously had occupied a handful of Communist Party buildings in Lithuania, but today was the first time they occupied a Lithuanian government building.

The standoff began at the office when Moscow officials tried to replace Arturis Paulauskas, the prosecutor appointed by the Lithuanian government on March 22. Soviet Deputy Prosecutor Alexei Vasiliev told more than 100 members of the Lithuanian prosecutor’s staff to execute Soviet law. He brought with him an ethnic Lithuanian, Antanas Petrauskas, to replace Paulauskas.

Tass later carried a statement from Soviet Prosecutor General Alexander Sukharev firing Paulauskas and officially naming Petrauskas as his successor.

Staff members reacted during the meeting with angry questions.

“Do you know our government was elected legally?” one employee shouted.

Bickauskas, the Lithuanian legislator, told the staff:

“I hope you will consider your place is in your offices under the leadership of Mr. Paulauskas.” Nearly everyone applauded as they rose to leave the room and returned to their desks.

“You must obey the orders of the general prosecutor of the U.S.S.R.,” Vasiliev said in a raised voice as people left. But his appeal had little effect until the building was taken over later.