Pressure Soviets, Lithuanian Urges : Prime Minister, Hopeful About Summit, Meets With Bush

Lithuanian Prime Minister Kazimiera Prunskiene arrived at the White House for a meeting with President Bush today and urged the world’s nations to legally guarantee the republic’s declaration of independence.

Prunskiene said the coming summit between Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev could be a crucial turning point.

“Fate is giving them the chance to make an admirable mark on history,” she said.

At a photo session just before beginning her meeting with Bush, Prunskiene was asked about the President’s statement that the United States has no mediation role in the Lithuanian matter.

She refused to reply, saying she had agreed not to answer questions before her meeting.

Prunskiene said earlier that the independence crisis in Lithuania can be resolved if strong international pressure is brought on Gorbachev to permit genuine democracy in the Soviet Union.

“Even the world’s darling does not have the monopolistic right to decide the fate of other nations,” she said, referring to Gorbachev.

Greeted with a standing ovation as she opened public testimony earlier today on Capitol Hill, the 47-year-old prime minister acknowledged that Gorbachev would prefer that Lithuania remain within the Soviet federation, “although not by force.”

However, she said, the United States and the world don’t have to choose between the Soviet leader and the break-away republic.

“The solution is this: Gorbachev and a breakthrough for democracy in the Soviet Union and an independent Lithuania,” she said. “These two are compatible and converging sides of the same process, rather than alternatives.

“It is difficult for the West to perceive that pressuring Mr. Gorbachev helps rather than hinders.”

International pressure, Prunskiene said, can help Gorbachev become “a consistent practitioner of democracy” and overcome reactionary forces inside the Soviet Union.

Prunskiene delivered her testimony before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the so-called Helsinki Commission formed in 1975 to monitor Soviet compliance with its human rights commitments.

Bush, at a White House news conference hours before the prime minister’s visit, was asked if the United States could mediate the Lithuania dispute.

“If there was a constructive role for the United States, of course, we should fulfill that, but there’s not,” Bush replied.

Meeting over breakfast with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Prunskiene said Lithuania “is prepared for compromises” in those negotiations but “cannot and will not revoke our declaration of independence.”