Lithuanians Claim Food ‘Blockade’ : Supplies Diverted; Soviet Troops Seize Printing Plant

Moscow has begun diverting food from Lithuania after a cutoff of fuel in what amounts to a calculated “blockade,” a senior minister said today just hours after club-wielding paratroopers stormed a Vilnius printing plant.

A food blockade would be the toughest action carried out by the Kremlin since Lithuania declared its independence five weeks ago, a move that led President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to slash fuel supplies Wednesday and Thursday.

“We have received telegraphed documents that confirm that not only oil and gas but also food products have been diverted from Lithuania,” Deputy Prime Minister Romualdas Ozolas told a news conference.

Ozolas said two ships from Cuba carrying raw sugar for Lithuania had been diverted from the Baltic republic’s port of Kleipeda. He said supplies of fish from Latvia, destined for Lithuania, had been sent somewhere else.

“We cannot speak about some misunderstanding,” Ozolas said. “I am sure this is a part of a complex of measures that can be called a blockade.”

Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis said supplies of rubber tires, cables, ball bearings, plastics, and other materials have also been reduced.

“Plants in various industries will have to stop working if we do not get the supplies through other channels,” Landsbergis said.

About 50 Soviet paratroopers stormed a Lithuanian printing plant earlier today and clubbed about 30 people, including the head of the environmentalist Greens Party.

Two or three people were hospitalized after the attack, said Algimantas Cekuolis, a top Lithuanian Communist Party member.

The troops rushed into the plant operated by the rebel Lithuanian Communist Party and began flailing away but were confronted by Lithuanian officials who had been alerted to the raid.

Cekuolis said the soldiers at one point tried to throw the employees off the premises but were prevented by about 3,000 onlookers chanting, “Fascists, fascists.”

The soldiers, led by a colonel, remained in the building in Vilnius’ picturesque old town in an uneasy standoff.

Workers appeared periodically on the balcony to loud cheers from the crowd.