LANDSBERGIS CALLS ATTENTION TO COLD WAR ON BALTS.

Lithuanian Parliament Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis yesterday observed that Moscow has begun a "cold war against the Baltic states, and tries to involve leaders of influential Western countries in it." Pointing to Russia’s recent propaganda offensive against Latvia, Landsbergis also cited the Kremlin’s claims last week that German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Jacques Chirac allegedly endorsed Russia’s policy toward the Baltic states during the three-power summit with Boris Yeltsin near Moscow. (See Monitor, March 27)

Landsbergis described the Kremlin’s handling of the Baltic issue at that summit as "a diplomatic setup, aiming to create the impression that the Baltic states’ future depends on Russia’s will." As a further illustration of Cold War tactics, Landsbergis cited official accusations of Baltic collaboration with Nazism. He deemed "especially rude" the charges in some Russian government media that Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus had allegedly been pro-Nazi. (BNS, March 30)

Adamkus joined a local resistance unit against the Red Army in 1944. The Russian government last month depicted war-time Latvian legionnaires in blanket fashion as Nazis. In Moscow yesterday, President Boris Yeltsin and the Duma’s Communist Chairman Gennady Seleznev — in separate meetings with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan — sought to elicit criticism of Estonia and Latvia and sought to imply, in their respective communiques, that they had found sympathetic understanding. (Itar-Tass and other Russian agencies, March 30)

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