Lithuanians Reject Gorbachev’s Warning of Direct Soviet Rule

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev today warned Lithuanian lawmakers that he is facing increasing demands to impose direct rule in the restive Baltic republic if it refuses to comply with national laws.

Lithuanian leaders quickly rejected Gorbachev’s appeal, which Lithuania’s president called a “new and dangerous step.”

About 5,000 Lithuanians, after hearing radio and television newscasts of Gorbachev’s warning from Moscow, massed outside the Parliament this evening to support the drive for independence.

Gorbachev’s toughly worded appeal to the Lithuanian Parliament reinforced the hard line he took Monday when he ordered paratroopers into seven secessionist republics to round up draft dodgers and deserters.

Gorbachev’s appeal accused the lawmakers of violating the Soviet constitution, infringing on citizens’ rights and ignoring his decrees.

Gorbachev said citizens, social and political organizations and others have demanded “restoration of constitutional order, reliable guarantees of the security and normal conditions of life.”

“They demand the introduction of presidential rule,” he said.

He urged the Lithuanian Parliament to mend its ways.

“The Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic must understand with all due measure its responsibility to the people of the republic and the Soviet Union,” Gorbachev said.

Early official reaction in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, was negative.

Vice President Kazimieras Motieka told Parliament he views Gorbachev’s appeal as a threat and recalled 1940, when the Kremlin forcibly annexed the independent Baltic states.

In another secessionist conflict, demonstrators rallied in the southern republic of Georgia late Wednesday after their rebellious Parliament denounced Gorbachev’s “interference” in their conflict with the enclave of South Ossetia. The enclave itself is seeking independence from the Kremlin.