Latvia Parliament Adopts Freedom Declaration, Leaves Timetable Open

Latvia’s Parliament adopted a declaration of independence today, launching the Baltic republic’s secession from the Soviet Union 50 years after it was forcibly absorbed by Moscow.

The Supreme Soviet voted 138-0, with one abstention, to pass the measure, which calls for independence after an undetermined transition period. Fifty-seven anti-independence deputies refused to vote.

When the results of the vote were announced via loudspeakers to a crowd of several hundred people outside Parliament, a loud cheer went up. Then, those inside and outside the hall began singing “God Bless Latvia,” the republic’s national anthem.

The measure that made Latvia the last of the three Baltic republics to formally break with Moscow had needed a two-thirds majority, or 132 votes, to pass.

The neighboring republic of Estonia has taken a similar step. The third Baltic republic, Lithuania, declared full independence on March 11, and the Kremlin has since imposed an economic blockade on the republic.

The deputies also voted to drop the words “Soviet Socialist” from the republic’s name, making it simply “The Republic of Latvia.”

In a conciliatory gesture to Moscow, the Parliament voted to set aside key practical issues for future bilateral talks.

“Latvia is an independent democratic republic,” read the first of four articles from the 1922 constitution which were readopted by the Parliament today.

Another defined the republic’s territory according to its prewar borders, which include a region that is now part of the Russian Federation, the largest Soviet republic.

But in an attempt to avoid a head-on confrontation with Moscow, the Parliament ruled that those elements of the Soviet Constitution that do not contradict the four clauses will remain in effect in the republic.

Two deputies walked out of the session during the vote, including Alfreds Rubiks, Latvia’s Communist Party chief who earlier in the day had warned of mass demonstrations and strikes by non-Latvians if the measure passed.

The Supreme Soviet, or Parliament, put the independence declaration on the agenda despite complaints by some deputies that they were being rushed into a dangerous decision. The Parliament is dominated by the grass-roots Latvian People’s Front.

Members of the Latvian opposition complained that they first saw the draft declaration only this morning.

“We are physically unable to give an answer today on this document,” Sergejs Diemans told fellow legislators. “Time must be taken to study it carefully.”

Deputy Leonids Alksnis warned that if the declaration passed, Moscow would apply heavy pressure on Latvia to rescind it.

“If we pass this declaration, Moscow will do the same thing to Latvia” as it did to Lithuania, Alksnis said.

In the end, the lawmakers voted 139-56 to address the measure today.

Scores of protesters from the non-Latvian population gathered on Cathedral Square with signs demanding that the republic not copy Lithuania.