TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/082691/0826003.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 8.2 KB | 173 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 30

SOVIET UNION

Agents of Intimidation


The Black Berets have taken charge of perpetuating Soviet rule,
but fears grow that Moscow has lost control of them

By JAMES CARNEY/VILNIUS


    Protected by a sandbag bunker, Anatoli Seryak peers down
the barrel of his rifle, scanning passing cars in the
Lithuanian capital of Vilnius for drive-by snipers. He is one
of two men on forward sentry duty for OMON, a paramilitary unit
of the Soviet Interior Ministry. Nearby, an armored personnel
carrier stands guard in front of the unit's fortified
headquarters. Two more sentries pace the roof. "If they try
anything, there won't be a problem," says Seryak, 33, his
trademark black beret tilted high on his forehead. "We're always
ready to fight."

    The OMON base was the Lithuanian police academy until
soldiers loyal to Moscow took it by force in January. Now the
building looks like a command post in a war zone, and those who
inhabit it view themselves as besieged defenders of the Soviet
empire. In its unofficial role as armed protector of the
republic's non-Lithuanian minorities, many of whom fear Baltic
independence, the OMON unit has become a kind of partisan
brigade determined to prevent Lithuania's secession at all
costs. "We are drawn together by our attitude to the future of
Lithuania and the Soviet Union," says Major Boleslav
Makutinovich, commander of the unit. "When others talk to us of
independence, we say people are only independent in the
graveyard."

    To a majority of Lithuanians, though, Seryak and his
colleagues are not hero-protectors but agents of repression. One
newspaper has dubbed them "angels of death in black berets."
Ever since Soviet army paratroopers stormed the television tower
in Vilnius in January, killing 15 unarmed civilian
demonstrators, OMON has been waging a campaign of intimidation
against the democratically elected leadership of the republic.
The same is true in neighboring Latvia, where Black Berets
raided the republic's interior ministry in Riga, leaving five
people dead. In their zeal to enforce the Soviet constitution
and the presidential decrees of Mikhail Gorbachev, OMON forces
have subsequently carried out a series of surprise attacks,
seizing buildings, ransacking customs posts and, on several
occasions, shooting at people who got in their way.

    The first OMON (standing for Special Assignment Militia
Detachment) unit was created in 1987 to fight the rise in
organized crime across the country. The following year, it took
on the task of policing large demonstrations, ostensibly to
provide riot control. Today there are 35 OMON units in the
U.S.S.R., representing a total force of about 10,000 men, all
of them answering to local authorities. The exceptions are the
units in Lithuania and Latvia, which are supposedly commanded
directly by Moscow as well as by the Soviet Interior Ministry
forces stationed in the Baltics.

    The Kremlin has frequently denied authorizing violent or
disruptive OMON operations, fueling speculation that OMON units
are really taking orders from Communist Party hard-liners and
secret conservative groups in the Baltics. When Black Berets
seized the Lithuanian telephone exchange in early July, cutting
off external communications for more than two hours, Gorbachev's
spokesman suggested that "someone was trying to spoil" the
Soviet President's visit to London for the G-7 summit. Accepting
responsibility, Makutinovich said the operation was aimed at the
confiscation of illegally held weapons. In a sign of official
displeasure, the major was promptly summoned to Moscow for a
conference with his superiors. But he is now back at his post.

    Inside OMON headquarters, Makutinovich's men go on
preparing for a showdown. Some train in hand-to-hand combat and
martial arts while others nap in cots, their black berets
hanging from posts at their feet. They call each other by
nicknames drawn from American action and horror movies: Rambo,
Ninja, Krueger. Lieut. Vitali Belkin, commander of one of the
five squads that make up the 150-strong unit, says the struggle
with the Lithuanian government has already passed the point of
compromise. "I don't doubt there will be bloodshed," he says.
"Civil war is inevitable."

    After a winter of violent confrontation, the atmosphere
had begun to calm as spring turned into summer. Then, on July
31, eight Lithuanians manning a customs post on the border with
Belorussia were shot in the head. Seven died; the eighth is
still fighting for his life in a hospital. The Lithuanian
government immediately blamed the Black Berets, who have been
accused of attacking and burning down more than 20 Baltic
customs posts this year. In a law passed last March, the Soviet
parliament banned the establishment of independent border posts,
making them convenient targets in OMON's campaign to enforce
Soviet law.

    The executions near the village of Medininkai did not bear
the stamp of a Black Beret operation; in previous assaults on
customs posts, OMON units had been accused of roughing up people
but never of killing anyone. Makutinovich, as well as Soviet
Interior Minister Boris Pugo, quickly condemned the massacre and
denied responsibility. After a preliminary investigation, a
reform group within the Soviet army suggested that the KGB had
done the actual killing, albeit with the complicity of OMON
commanders. The KGB denied involvement.

    In the wake of the murders, Lithuanians staged a three-day
demonstration, pitching tents in a field next to the Vilnius
OMON base and demanding that the unit either disband or leave
the republic. Dressed in fatigues and cradling automatic
weapons, the Black Berets mocked the protesters. One of their
own signs near the barbed wire separating the demonstration site
from the OMON base read, THE SOVIET ARMY AND OMON: THE LAST
DEFENDERS OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN LITHUANIA.

    Though most of the Black Berets in Vilnius are Russian,
Belorussian or Polish, almost all were born in Lithuania or in
a neighboring Baltic state. They have homes and families on
Lithuanian soil, giving them a personal stake in preventing the
republic's secession from the union. Nor do all Lithuanians
despise OMON. A handful actually serve as Black Berets
themselves to block secession. One 25-year-old named Vitas says
he wants nothing to do with independence. "The Soviet Union is
the world I was born in and the world I grew up in," he
explains. "It's the only world I know, and I will defend it to
the end."

    Independence-minded Lithuanians fear that the Kremlin,
paralyzed by its own political battles, has lost control of the
Black Berets. Some Soviet officials say that Gorbachev is
pressuring the Interior Ministry to rein in or disband the
Baltic OMON units. "There are certain ((Communist)) Party
circles controlling OMON in the Baltics and in Moscow," claims
one official. They have warned the Black Berets to keep a lower
profile, he says, but still "to gather information and recruit
agents" in preparation for a future "battle."

    The field units show little patience for the conflicting
signals from the center. Says Lieut. Belkin: "In Moscow they sit
in armchairs all day. They don't understand what's going on
here, and they don't want to." The Black Berets in Vilnius boast
that they have enough support in Lithuania to fight on without
Soviet help. Says Belkin: "If Moscow cuts support, we will
continue on our own. We are preparing for victory."

    The use of violence and intimidation by those trying to
perpetuate Soviet control over the Baltics continues to
undermine Gorbachev's credibility as the Soviet President
presses forward with democratic reform. Though he still clings
to the notion that he can persuade the Balts to join a new
union, Gorbachev has pledged to the West that he will make his
case peacefully. That leaves the Black Berets unsure of their
future. Already they complain of Moscow's betrayal. But the real
test will come if Gorbachev does order the OMON units in the
Baltics to disband. If they refuse, the Black Berets will become
true renegades -- heroes to some, villains to many others --
fighting to preserve the past.