WORLD : Baltics Disavow Gorbachev
The Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declared today that Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev has no authority to represent them during his summit with President Bush.
A declaration by the foreign ministers of the three republics, signed in Latvia during the weekend but released today as Gorbachev left for Canada and the United States, said they would not recognize any agreements signed by Gorbachev as binding on the Baltic states.
In the last 10 weeks each of the Baltic republics--annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 under the Soviet-Nazi non-aggression pact--has declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Gorbachev has declared the independence declarations illegal.
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