TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/041690/0416008.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.5 KB | 120 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 29

Next to Break from the Pack?


Estonia is on a more cautious collision course with Moscow, but
for Mikhail Gorbachev, the gauntlet has been thrown down

By JOHN KOHAN/TALLINN


    Mikhail Gorbachev does not like waiting. After trying
several times to reach Estonian President Arnold Ruutel by
telephone last week, he was in no mood for small talk when he
finally got through late Tuesday evening. The Soviet President
told Ruutel that he had "lost his temper" over the Estonian
parliament's decision two weeks ago that declared "the state
supremacy of the Soviet Union to be illegal" in the republic.
What exactly did that mean? Gorbachev demanded. If the
Estonians no longer recognized the Soviet constitution, what
law was operating?

    Ruutel had a ready response: Estonian law. Displeased,
Gorbachev called the decision "improper" and summoned the
Estonian President to Moscow immediately to explain himself.
When Ruutel declined, the Soviet leader turned tough. If the
declaration was not rescinded, Gorbachev warned, Moscow would
impose the same "regimen" there as in rebellious Lithuania.
Ruutel replied that Estonians understood the consequences of
their actions.

    And so the gauntlet was thrown down in another Baltic
rebellion against the Soviets that could further complicate
superpower relations. Even as Eduard Shevardnadze and the Bush
Administration were trying to muffle Lithuania's impact in
Washington, Estonia was setting off on a similar course of
defiance. As Ruutel told a group of visiting TIME editors in
Tallinn last week: "We understand the concern abroad that we
are, perhaps, too bold in our demands and are undermining
Gorbachev's position. But the interests of the superpowers
should not be advanced at the expense of small nations."

    Some Estonians have concerns about the brash way in which
Lithuania declared outright independence, but sympathy with the
decision is widespread. Says Enn-Arno Sillari, First Secretary
of the independent Estonian Communist Party: "I'd like to think
the Lithuanians are paving the way for us." The Estonians
prefer to take more measured steps toward sovereignty. Instead
of a complete break with Moscow, the Supreme Soviet two weeks
ago called for an unspecified transition period leading to "the
formation of the constitutional institutions of the Republic
of Estonia."

    The Estonians contend that, technically speaking, they are
not seceding. They are simply restoring the sovereignty that
Moscow guaranteed them "unconditionally and for all time" in
1920 -- then violated under the terms of the 1939
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which led to Stalin's annexation of
the Baltics. Estonian legislators want the issue of
independence placed on the agenda for a Helsinki conference
that Gorbachev has proposed to lay the foundation for his much
touted "common European home." Legalists in Tallinn cite the
Austrian State Treaty of 1955, which guaranteed the country's
neutrality in exchange for the withdrawal of Soviet troops, as
a model for Soviet military disengagement.

    Like the Lithuanians, the Estonians are bracing for a
showdown over the issue of military conscription. The Estonian
parliament has approved a law on alternative military service,
and plans to dismantle local draft boards. Local movements like
Geneva-49, a citizens' action group opposed to the draft, have
denounced service in the Soviet army as a violation of the 1949
Geneva Conventions barring citizens of occupied states from
having to serve in the occupation forces.

    Estonia is already engaged in a "banking war" with Moscow.
Even though the Baltic republics were given the green light
last November to pursue radical economic reforms, when enabling
laws went into effect in January, the Estonians were ordered
to turn over the 2.3 billion-ruble reserve in the local savings
bank to the Moscow-controlled State Bank. Tallinn's branch of
the U.S.S.R. Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs, now part of the
new Estonian Republican Bank, was further told to close down
any hard-currency accounts abroad and let Moscow handle future
external cash transfers. The Estonians grudgingly agreed. They
plan to introduce their own currency by the end of the year and
to open a new, commercial shareholders bank.

    A shadow parliament now exists alongside the Estonian
Supreme Soviet. The new Congress of Estonia is a largely
symbolic body, elected by citizens of the old Estonian republic
and their descendants. But the Congress claims to be the
"bearer of supreme authority" in the republic and has been
recognized by the Supreme Soviet. The initiative has helped
inflame non-Estonians, who make up 40% of the republic's
population of 1.5 million. In the predominantly Russian-speaking
cities of Narva and Kotla-Jarve, local councils have refused
to recognize the parliament's independence call.

    Now that Estonia has aligned itself with Lithuania, will
Latvia be next? Members of the independence-oriented Popular
Front there say that when a newly elected Supreme Soviet
convenes next month in Riga, odds are good that the parliament
will also vote for independence. Agrees Estonian
parliamentarian Marju Lauristin in Tallinn: "We are in a
bicycle race, where the teams change leaders to keep up the
pace. The Lithuanians have broken away from the pack. Now it
is our turn. Perhaps the Latvians will follow." The question
is when, if ever, they will be allowed to cross the finish
line.