U.S. Will Send Relief to Baltics, Skirt Moscow

WASHINGTON —  The Bush Administration announced Wednesday that it will begin sending relief supplies directly to the Baltics and the Ukraine, circumventing the Soviet central government in an apparent response to Moscow’s violent crackdown on nationalist dissent.

White House officials stressed that the assistance was not intended to undercut the efforts of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to reach a peaceful solution to the crisis posed by the secessionist movements. But it nevertheless establishes the first direct relationship between the United States and the three Baltic states that are seeking to break away from the Soviet Union.

For more than 40 years, the United States has steadfastly refused to recognize the Soviet Union’s annexation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said the shipments were discussed with Soviet officials, who were said to have raised no objections. He said Bush acted for humanitarian reasons and “to demonstrate U.S. concern for the situation in the Baltic states.”

The President, however, spoke harshly Wednesday night about Soviet actions in the Baltics, calling them “repression” that threatens the warming course of U.S.-Soviet relations.

“When we see repression in the Baltics, it is very hard to have business as usual,” Bush said, in a question-and-answer session after a speech to the New York Economic Club.

“We’ve got to see that no more force will be used,” the President said. Otherwise, he said, not only will future U.S.-Soviet trade suffer, but also the overall relationship.

“I’m not in a position to say what we can do, more positive, while we have this human rights problem, this military crackdown in the Baltics,” and the Soviet leadership “knows this,” Bush said.

Until it is determined whether the crackdown was a departure from standard practice or whether it would become the norm, he said, “there are certain restraints on what we can do in moving forward.”

The announcement of the direct aid to the Baltic republics came as Secretary of State James A. Baker III said he will recommend against submitting a conventional arms control treaty to the Senate for ratification because of Soviet moves to circumvent some treaty restrictions.

The 22-nation Conventional Forces Europe pact severely limits armored divisions. Moscow has attempted to get around the limits by redefining three armored divisions as “naval infantry,” a category that is not restricted by the treaty.

Baker said the Soviet’s disingenuousness will make it very difficult to complete work on a treaty to slash the long-range nuclear arsenals. The Soviet moves “go to the heart . . . of credibility and trust (and) make it much more difficult to conclude other agreements,” he said.

Baker, speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also signaled that he is far more pessimistic than before about the Soviet Union’s immediate future.

“Clearly, we cannot rule out the possibility that matters may still turn more for the worse,” he said. “But, at the same time, we must be careful not to jump to premature conclusions.

“For the sake of history and for the sake of the world, I hope they resume the march that has given the entire world hope for a better future,” Baker said. “ Perestroika cannot succeed at gunpoint.” Perestroika refers to the restructuring of the Soviet system.

Baker also said the aid to the Baltic republics and the Ukraine is intended to strengthen U.S. ties to the regional governments without attempting to punish the Soviet central government--a step he said would be counterproductive.

Fitzwater said the United States has “a special concern about the future of the Baltics. We have not recognized their incorporation historically, and . . . we intend to be as responsive as we can to these kinds of needs.”

Asked whether the Administration is trying to send Gorbachev a message, Fitzwater said: “There is some message, in the sense that it’s clear that we want to be responsive to the human needs of the people in the Baltic republics . . . .”

The spokesman said the U.S. government would deal directly with leaders in the Baltic republics in making arrangements for the distribution of the supplies.

Administration officials said direct U.S. assistance to individual republics in the Soviet Union has been limited in the past to the aid given to Armenia in December, 1988, after the devastating earthquake there.

The Baltic republics have posed a dilemma for the Administration: Although Bush wants to send strong messages of support for the independence movements, he has taken care over the last two years to avoid sending such strong signals that he weakens the tenuous U.S.-Soviet relationship.

Although the Persian Gulf War was the primary reason for canceling the U.S.-Soviet summit that had been scheduled for Feb. 11-13 in Moscow, the unrest in the Baltics and Moscow’s response to it figured into the decision.

Bush has been described by senior aides as outraged over the military crackdown in Lithuania and Latvia that in recent weeks led to about 20 deaths of anti-Soviet protesters.

On the other hand, Bush made it clear Tuesday at a news conference that he continues to view Gorbachev as the central authority in the Soviet Union and the leader with whom he should work.

Fitzwater said the assistance--which was not enumerated--would begin arriving about the end of February. Medical supplies for the Ukraine will be used to help care for victims of the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Additional assistance will be dispatched over the next year to other areas in the Soviet Union “experiencing acute immediate shortages of basic medical supplies,” Fitzwater said.

The press secretary said Project Hope will coordinate the effort, with U.S. government assistance. He said that the government will provide about $5 million through the Agency for International Development to help pay for administrative costs, distribution and shipping and that the medical supplies themselves will be provided by U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“The range of medical needs there go all the way from basic things, such as blankets and supplies to keep warm in those areas of the countries that have shortages, to the more sophisticated things related to cancer treatment and other medical needs” related to Chernobyl, where residents were exposed to high levels of radiation released at the nuclear power plant.

Staff writer Norman Kempster contributed to this story.