Bush Urged to ‘Punish’ Soviet Leaders for Lithuania Actions

Despite signs of growing concern at the White House over the Soviet crackdown on Lithuania that killed 14 people and injured dozens more last weekend, Orange’s County’s Baltic-American leaders on Monday expressed outrage that President Bush has not “punished” Soviet leaders for the acts of violence.

After a meeting at the White House on Monday between Baltic-American leaders and members of the National Security Council staff, Fullerton resident Angela Nelsas said in a telephone interview that the ongoing crisis in the Persian Gulf should not prevent the United States from taking forceful action against the Soviets.

“I wonder how (President Bush) would react if Lithuania had 10% of the world’s oil reserves?” said Nelsas, referring to Iraq’s invasion of oil-rich Kuwait.

Nelsas, a former elementary school teacher, is now president of the Baltic-American Freedom League and of the Lithuanian-American Community National Council, an international council.

She was attending a Baltic-American leadership meeting in Washington over the weekend and extended her stay to lobby for U.S support of Lithuania after learning that Soviet tanks and paratroopers stormed government buildings and a television station in Vilnius, the capital.

Meanwhile in Mission Viejo, Danute Mazeika was equally critical of the Bush Administration as she manned the telephones in her home, which has become an unofficial command center for those seeking up-to-the-minute information on events in the Baltic states.

Bush “is trying so hard to look like Gen. (George) Patton in the (Persian) Gulf and like Mr. Rogers in the Baltic waters,” Mazeika said.

Nelsas and Mazeika said the Soviets, who had earlier warned they would get tough with rebellious Baltic republics, timed the aggression on Lithuania to coincide with the mounting signs of war in the Middle East.

“The Soviets love to play chess, and they saw the Persian Gulf (crisis) as a wonderful opportunity to take care of their business,” Mazeika said.

Baltic-American leaders have called on the United States to suspend all aid and loan credits to the Soviet Union, including agricultural loans to avert a food shortage, and postpone a U.S.-Soviet arms summit scheduled for next month.

They also called on Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to distribute his Nobel Peace Prize money among the families of those who were killed or injured this weekend “as a symbolic token for reparation.”