VILNIUS, Lithuania, U.S.S.R. -- The commander of Soviet ground forces sent representatives to meet Lithuanian leaders Sunday after troops seized two buildings from the independent Communist Party in an escalation of tension between the Kremlin and the republic.
Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis said two Soviet army colonels and a major -- representatives of Gen. Valentin Varennikov -- held talks with the republic's executive leadership in a late-night session at modern granite-and-glass Parliament.
The Lithuanian leader, in a news conference early Monday after the meeting, said he doubted the Soviet army would intervene militarily to halt the republic's drive to regain its pre-World War II independence.
'Varennikov is here to lead some military operation that is unknown to us,' Landsbergis told reporters. He said Soviet military intervention in Lithuania 'would be a catastrophe for (Soviet President) Mikhail Gorbachev' but added, 'I also know that in this country there is great potential for mindless action.'
The meeting between the Soviet military delegation and Lithuanian officials came after Soviet paratroops seized two buildings from the independent Communist Party and handed them over to communists loyal to Moscow in a move that escalated the tension between the Kremlin and Vilnius.
Lithuania's Bureau of Information said the Soviet paratroops entered the Marxism-Leninism Institute and the Higher Party School along with communists who have remained loyal to Moscow rather than join the breakaway party.
The purpose of the action was not clear beyond denying control of the property to the independent communists, who split in December from Moscow. The independent communists scheduled a plenum for Monday.
The Lithuanian Parliament's presidium issued a midnight protest against the takeover, calling it a continuation of 'psychological terror' against the republic that has included helicopters dropping leaflets, moving columns of military vehicles through town and buzzing Vilnius with low-flying jets.
As he left the Parliament building after the session between the Soviet military delegation and the Lithuanian leaders, one of the officers told reporters, 'We won't occupy any more buildings.'
A Defense Ministry official from Moscow, Col. Uri Naumin, told foreign reporters not to believe stories about any planned Soviet military intervention.
'You are hearing Sajudis rumors,' Naumin said, referring to the nationalist front that was swept to power in elections Feb. 24. 'Don't believe these rumors. We are going to rest now, and I suggest that you rest too.'
Naumin, who drove up in a jeep to the Marxism-Leninism Institute, told United Press International he was operating under direct orders from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
'We are from Moscow. I am from the Ministry of Defense,' Naumin said. 'I am hear to fulfill the order of President Mikhail Gorbachev. We came here at the request of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.' Gorbachev heads the Central Committee.
Asked whether the events had anything to do with the independent communists, he said, 'Of course.'
Reports that the Lithuanian communists were about to change their name were denied in a Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper interview Sunday by their leader Algirdas Brazauskas. Such a name change would be a major affront to Gorbachev.
The rapid developments apparently baffled even the Soviet soldiers.
Algimandas Cekulis, a Sajudis leader, went to the occupied Higher Party School and talked with the soldiers, who he said numbered between 20 to 25.
'Those paratroops are very polite and very lost,' he said.
The Sajudis leader said he asked them whether they were knew what they were doing and they answered, 'Obeying orders.'
'That is what Hitler's SS men said,' Cekulis responded. 'One of the soldiers then broke down and wept.'
Their commander said, 'Don't ask me what I personally believe about this.'
Lithuanian Deputy Prime Minister Romualdas Ozales said the seizure of the party buildings could be a prelude to an attempt by the Soviet army to take over the Parliament.
'I fear they will be sent outright to storm this building,' he said, citing information he said he received from a soldier.
On Saturday, the Baltic Council of independence movements suggested that the three Baltic republics -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- work together to end the crisis that began when Lithuania's parliament declared Lithuania independent March 11.
Landsbergis so far has refused to meet President Mikhail Gorbachev's demands to stop formation of self-defense units and hand over deserters from the Soviet army. He told deserters Saturday to seek sanctuary in churches.
The Soviet soldiers who arrived by trucks took over the two buildings shortly before nightfall.
A United Press International reporter watched as troops pulled up in a truck at the Marxism-Leninism Institute and disappear inside. Other journalists witnessed the other action.
The Lithuanian Bureau of Information said Moscow-loyal Communists went inside with the soldiers.
The still-unexplained action came one day after an armored column roared through Vilnius and right past the Parliament while legislators were inside desperately trying to select a government they hope the world will recognize.
'I must regrettably state that the war of nerves and psychological, political pressure against Lithuania continues,' President Vytautas Landsbergis told the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet.
Lithuanians Sunday crowded churches in the largely Roman Catholic republic and listened to sermons urging calm, patience and faith in the Lithuanian cause.
In the mass at the Basilica of St. Stanislav, the priest compared the Lithuanian people to the blind man whose sight was restored by Christ. Lithuania had been blinded by 50 years of Soviet occupation, he said.
The sermon urged Lithuanians not to be provoked into using force 'by our powerful enemy.'
In Lisbon Saturday, the European Community foreign ministers told the Soviet Union toavoid using force and intimidation in dealing with the recalcitrant republic, which is seeking to regain its pre-World War II independence.
In an interview published Saturday in the Soviet newspaper Argumenti i Fakti, hard-line Politburo member Yegor Ligachev ruled out military intervention of the type that crushed Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring reform movement of 1968.
'Tanks will not help this,' Ligachev said. 'We are wise enough not to repeat it. You may have no doubts about it.'
The official Soviet news agency Tass said late Saturday that foreign diplomats were asked to leave Lithuania and foreign correspondents were requested to temporarily put off trips to Lithuania because of the 'aggravation of the situation.'
Tass said the Foreign Ministry temporarily has suspended both the simplified no-visa crossings into Lithuania for Polish residents and the issuing of multiple-entry visas to foreigners.
The Soviet Foreign Ministry on Friday sent two American diplomats in Lithuania packing, ordering them to return to the U.S. consulate in Leningrad.
'We won't forget it for a long time. I think you will remember it for the rest of your lives,' Landsbergis said of Saturday's blatant show of force by Moscow outside the Parliament.
He later quipped to reporters, 'The military procession added some color to the (legislative) session.'
The parade of Soviet might in Vilnius aggravated the tension between Moscow and the small republic, whose Parliament declared its independence March 11 in the first session after being elected by the voters.
Gorbachev has called the Lithuanian parliament's declaration of independence illegal and has ordered the KGB and Interior Ministry to reassert Soviet control and for the army to round up Lithuanian deserters from the Soviet army, whose mounting numbers are said to have reached 1,500.
In Moscow Friday, Soviet Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev said the deserters were breaking the law and would be rounded up.
In an interview published Saturday in the Soviet newspaper Argumenti i Fakti, hard-line Politburo member Yegor Ligachev ruled out military intervention of the type that crushed Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring reform movement of 1968.
'Tanks will not help this,' Ligachev said. 'We are wise enough not to repeat it. You may have no doubts about it.'
The official Soviet news agency Tass said late Saturday that foreign diplomats were asked to leave Lithuania and foreign correspondents were requested to temporarily put off trips to Lithuania because of the 'aggravation of the situation.'
Tass said the Foreign Ministry temporarily has suspended both the simplified no-visa crossings into Lithuania for Polish residents and the issuing of multiple-entry visas to foreigners.
The Soviet Foreign Ministry on Friday sent two American diplomats in Lithuania packing, ordering them to return to the U.S. consulate in Leningrad.
'We won't forget it for a long time. I think you will remember it for the rest of your lives,' Landsbergis said of Saturday's blatant show of force by Moscow outside the Parliament.
He later quipped to reporters, 'The military procession added some color to the (legislative) session.'
The parade of Soviet might in Vilnius aggravated the tension between Moscow and the small republic, whose Parliament declared its independence March 11 in the first session after being elected by the voters.
Gorbachev has called the Lithuanian parliament's declaration of independence illegal and has ordered the KGB and Interior Ministry to reassert Soviet control and for the army to round up Lithuanian deserters from the Soviet army, whose mounting numbers are said to have reached 1,500.
In Moscow Friday, Soviet Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev said the deserters were breaking the law and would be rounded up no matter how such an operation would be perceived in the West.
But Landsbergis Saturday urged the deserters to find refuge.
'I would like to suggest to those young men who have decided not to return to their units and finish their service that they not stay at home. Their addresses might be known,' he told the Parliament. 'If they are threatened, they should seek sanctuary in churches.'
