Independence Movement in Lithuania

Ms. Prunskiene was recently elected prime minister of Lithuania in that country's first democratic election. She was on an official visit to the United States where she met with President Bush and other administration officials. Her comments focused on her impressions of the meetings with President Bush. In 1940 Josef Stalin forcibly annexed the Lithuanian Republic and since then the people of Lithuania have yearned for their freedom. Gorbachev's perestroika led to the first multi-party elections in the U.S.S.R. in Lithuania on March 3, 1990. The result was the election of an overwhleming majority from the pro-independence party. At the first session of the Lithuanian congress these representatives attended, March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. This declaration was followed by an embargo by Gorbachev.