Lithuania Suspends Its Independence

It is sad news to read (“Lithuanians Give In, Agree to Moratorium,” Part A, June 30), that the Lithuanians had to give in to Mikhail Gorbachev’s demands to suspend their declaration of independence. It is noteworthy that the moratorium was passed almost exactly by the minimum required of the two-thirds majority vote, versus the 95% vote by the same body when restoration of independence was declared.

I am certain that this would not have happened if this Soviet-occupied nation had any hopes for support and recognition of its independence from Western democracies. Instead of that Lithuania received only sympathy and evasive gestures.

This free neutral nation, along with Estonia and Latvia, was occupied in 1940 by the Soviets as a direct result of the secret agreement between Hitler and Stalin. Now it is being sold out again to Gorbachev by President Bush, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand. Did anything really change in the last 50 years?

KEST A. MIKENAS

Los Angeles