The three Baltic states, invited to sit in on the European summit as special guests, were pitched out at the last moment Monday when the Soviet Union objected.
”We assume that the Soviets wanted to show to the world that the Baltic states still belong to the Soviet Union,” Latvian Foreign Minister Janis Jurkans said. The Soviets themselves could not be reached for an explanation. The Baltics` story, confirmed by French sources, was that France, as host of the summit, invited the three states-Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia-to come as distinguished guests.
The three have proclaimed their independence from the USSR, which seized them 50 years ago in the Stalin-Hitler deal dividing up Eastern Europe.
But the Soviet government has refused to recognize their independence.
The three had hoped to get observer status here.
But they agreed to come as guests after the French told them there was
”consensus” on this among the summiteers, implying Soviet approval.
At 9 a.m. Monday, Jurkans said, the three foreign ministers went to the summit site and were given their special guest badges.
”But all this was ruined at 10:40 a.m.,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas told them they were being expelled
”because the Soviet delegation was totally against our being at the conference.”
Estonian Foreign Minister Lennard Meri said the three intend to keep appearing at follow-up meetings of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe-”to be a presence in the new Europe. There is no Europe without the Baltic states.”
Meri said the Soviets suggested the Baltic ministers join the Soviet delegation, but they refused.
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At the summit`s opening session, Danish Premier Poul Schluter called for Baltic participation in the CSCE, and Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel urged a ”successful outcome” for the Baltics in their negotiations with Moscow.
But other speakers, including President Bush, ignored them, even though Meri said Secretary of State James A. Baker III had ”backed strongly the Baltic cause” in a meeting with the three here.
Asked why Bush didn`t mention them, Meri said, ”I suppose the president had not been informed” of their expulsion.