Moscow Urged to Annul Baltic Annexation Accords

Amid a groundswell of international support for the breakaway Baltics, Lithuania’s president called Sunday for the Soviet Parliament to annul the last documents relating to the three republics’ annexation.

Vytautas Landsbergis told reporters that he would travel to Moscow today if he could arrange meetings with officials, including Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

Most of the major Western democracies--including the United States--indicated Sunday that they were moving toward diplomatic recognition of the republics. A few countries were granting it outright.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were independent between the two world wars, but in 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany including a secret protocol placing all three in the Soviet sphere of influence.

An agreement in 1940 between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany formalized the secret 1939 agreement. The Soviet Parliament in Moscow has abrogated the 1939 treaty, and Landsbergis wants the 1940 document annulled.

European Community foreign ministers will meet Tuesday in Brussels to debate whether the EC should recognize Baltic independence, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

Norway and Argentina moved even faster. They said Sunday that they are establishing formal ties with all three republics. Denmark took similar action Saturday.

Landsbergis said he expects the United States to recognize the independence of the Lithuanian republic “within a week,” but the Bush Administration sent somewhat mixed signals.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” predicted Sunday that the United States will recognize the independence of the Baltic states in “a relatively short period.”

However, Secretary of State James A. Baker III sought to minimize the significance of any new move toward official recognition of the Baltics. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Baker said the three republics should be granted independence from the Soviet Union “sooner rather than later,” but he declined to say whether official recognition might soon be extended.