BUDAPEST : Swan Song for a Pact
Eager to end allegiance to the Kremlin as a hard-line resurgence gathers strength in the Soviet Union, East European leaders convene in the Hungarian capital Monday to formally dissolve the Warsaw Pact alliance.
The 35-year-old bloc has been effectively dead since the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989. No joint planning sessions have been held for more than a year.
Although there is believed to be little chance of Moscow reasserting control over its former allies, the five states still party to the defunct alliance--Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria--have been unnerved by the Soviet crackdown in the Baltics and are anxious to cut military ties with the power that once bound them.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.