STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met Swedish Prime Minster Ingvar Carlsson for several hours Thursday at the start of a brief trip to Sweden.
Gorbachev and Carlsson were expected to discuss bilateral relations, disarmament and in particular prospects for the independence of the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania during his eight-hour visit.
Unlike its Scandinavian neighbors, Sweden recognizes Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic republics. But with large Baltic emigre populations, and recent heavy government criticism of Soviet military actions in Lithuania, the Baltic issue was expected to dominate the talks.
Carlsson has said that Soviet military action in the rebellious Baltic republics placed a strain on Swedish-Soviet relations.
Opposition politicians called for Carlsson to express severe distaste to Gorbachev over a report by the Soviet prosecutor general on Monday that Soviet troops had no part in the killing of 14 people during demonstrations in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius last January.
Gorbachev and first lady Raisa arrived in Stockholm from Oslo where the Soviet president delivered the Nobel Peace Prize lecture Wednesday in which he appealed to the West for aid and for a new era in international cooperation.
The short visit to the Swedish capital was tightly packed with official events in a Stockholm teeming with heavily armed security forces who closed off the government district.
In the late afternoon, Gorbachev was to have a short private meeting with Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello who Thursday was to end a three-day official visit to Sweden.
Soviet sources said Collor was to invite Gorbachev to an international environmental conference next year in Brazil.
