U.S. Senators Warn Soviets on Lithuania : Superpowers: The Democratic delegation says force would draw ‘grave consequences.’ Gorbachev tells them to avoid giving sermons.

U.S. senators told Mikhail S. Gorbachev today that any use of force in Lithuania would have “grave consequences” for superpower ties, but he told them to avoid sermons because these “can cause resentment . . . affecting Soviet-American relations.”

Receiving a delegation of seven Democratic senators for more than two hours, the Soviet President said the Lithuanians are acting provocatively, leaving less and less room for a political approach to their March 11 independence declaration.

Delegation leader George J. Mitchell of Maine, the majority leader, told a news conference that he and the others told Gorbachev that any recourse to force in Lithuania would reverse detente would have “grave consequences” for U.S.-Soviet relations.

“Grave consequences” was the phrase used by Gorbachev on March 31 to describe what Lithuania would face unless it withdrew its independence declaration.

The official Tass news agency quoted Gorbachev as telling Mitchell and the others: “You don’t need to teach us that political methods are better. But not everything depends on us.

“And senators, like Americans in general, must understand this. And avoid sermons. They can cause resentment in our society, affecting Soviet-American relations.”

The Soviet leader reiterated that Lithuania could secede but only through legal processes beginning with a referendum. The process would take years and mean heavy socioeconomic costs.

“The current Lithuanian leadership, ignoring the fact that the Soviet Union as a multinational federation is going through a very crucial period of its development, took a provocative and adventurist action,” Tass quoted him as saying.

“They put us all in an unthinkable position. We are showing patience and restraint.”

Mitchell’s version of the Soviet leader’s response on Lithuania was that Gorbachev had reiterated that he wanted to resolve the dispute peacefully. The senators told Gorbachev that it would be regrettable if U.S.-Soviet detente should be reversed.

“Such a reversal would undoubtedly occur should the Soviet Union resort to force to resolve the situation in Lithuania,” Mitchell said. “Such action would, I advised President Gorbachev, have grave consequences for relations between our two countries.

“This is a delicate situation. We are not out to say or do anything that could aggravate the situation or infringe on the . . . prerogative” of President Bush, Mitchell added.

The senators also discussed arms control and Gorbachev’s radical economic reform plan with the Soviet leader, who meets with Bush for their second summit between May 30 and June 3.