add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
CVAHEC January Events Calendar cvahec.org | Baylor Tom Landry Fitness Center: January Events baylortomlandryfitnesscen... | January Events foxchase.org | Bastyr University : Event: January 23, 2010: Attend the Bastyr... bastyr.org |
See also: January 1991 events in Latvia The January Events (Lithuanian: Sausio įvykiai) took place in Lithuania between January 11 and 13, 1991 in the aftermath of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania. As a result of Soviet military actions, at least 14 civilians were killed and more than 600 injured. The events were centred in its capital, Vilnius, along with related actions in its suburbs and in the cities of Alytus, Šiauliai, Varėna, and Kaunas.
[edit] Background The Lithuanian Republic declared independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990, and thereafter underwent a difficult period of emergence. Economic and energy shortages undermined public faith in the newly restored state. The Soviet Union imposed an economic blockade between April and late June.[1] The inflation rate reached 100% and continued to increase rapidly. The fact that Lithuania had proclaimed independence unilaterally also caused discontent among the minority, who were mostly of Russian descent, who were supporters of the Moscow-backed branch of the Lithuanian Communist Party and the largely communist-dominated Jedinstvo Russian-speakers' movement. Tensions rose sharply in the early days of 1991. During the five days preceding the events, Russian, Polish, and other workers at Vilnius factories protested the government's consumer goods price hikes and what they saw as ethnic discrimination.[2] (According to Human Rights Watch, the Soviet government had mounted a propaganda campaign designed to further ethnic strife).[1] On January 8, the conflict between Chairman of the Parliament Vytautas Landsbergis and the more pragmatic Prime Minister Kazimira Prunskienė culminated in her resignation.[1] Prunskienė met with Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev on that day. He refused her request for assurances that military action would not be taken.[1] On January 8, the Jedinstvo movement organized a rally in front of the Supreme Council of Lithuania. Protesters tried to storm the parliament building, but were driven away by unarmed security forces using water cannons. Despite a Supreme Council vote the same day to halt price increases, the scale of protests and provocations backed by Jedinstvo (Unity, in Russian) and the Communist Party increased. During a radio and television address, Landsbergis called upon independence supporters to gather around and protect the main governmental and infrastructural buildings. From January 8–9, several special Soviet military units were flown to Lithuania (including the famous counter terrorist Alpha Group and paratroopers of the 76th Airborne Division of the VDV based at Pskov). The official explanation was that this was needed to ensure constitutional order and the effectiveness of laws of the Lithuanian SSR and the Soviet Union. On January 10, Gorbachev addressed the Supreme Council, demanding restoration of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania and the revocation of all anti-constitutional laws. He mentioned that military intervention could be possible within days. When Lithuanian officials asked for Moscow's guarantee not to send armed troops, Gorbachev did not reply. [edit] Timeline of events[edit] January 11In the morning, Speaker of the Supreme Council Vytautas Landsbergis and Prime Minister Albertas Šimėnas were presented with another ultimatum from the "Democratic Congress of Lithuania" demanding that they comply with Gorbachev's request by 15:00 on January 11.
[edit] January 12 During an overnight session of the Supreme Council, Speaker Vytautas Landsbergis announced that he had tried to call Mikhail Gorbachev three times, but was unsuccessful. Deputy Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union, General Vladislav Achalov, arrived in Lithuania and took control of all military operations. People from all over Lithuania started to encircle the main strategic buildings: the Supreme Council, the Radio and Television Committee, the Vilnius TV Tower and the main telephone exchange.
[edit] January 13
Following these two attacks, large crowds (20,000 during the night, more than 50,000 in the morning) of independence supporters gathered around the Supreme Council building. People started building anti-tank barricades and setting up defenses inside surrounding buildings. Provisional chapels were set up inside and outside the Supreme Council building. Members of the crowd prayed, sang and shouted pro-independence slogans. Despite columns of military trucks, BMPs and tanks moving into the vicinity of the Supreme Council, Soviet military forces retreated instead of attacking. The events of January 13 are sometimes referred to as Bloody Sunday [3]. [edit] List of victims.jpg)   In all, thirteen Lithuanians were killed by the Soviet army. An additional civilian died at the scene due to a heart attack, and one Soviet soldier was killed by friendly fire. All victims, except the soldier, were awarded the Order of the Cross of Vytis (the Knight) on January 15, 1991.
[edit] AftermathImmediately after the attacks, the Supreme Council issued a letter to the people of the Soviet Union and to the rest of the world denouncing the attacks and calling for foreign governments to recognise that the Soviet Union had committed an act of aggression against a sovereign nation. Following the first news reports from Lithuania, the government of Norway appealed to the United Nations. The government of Poland expressed their solidarity with the people of Lithuania and denounced the actions of the Soviet army. After the events, President Gorbachev said Lithuanian "workers and intellectuals" complaining of anti-Soviet broadcasts had tried to talk to the republic's parliament, but were refused and beaten. Then, he said, they asked the military commander in Vilnius to provide protection. Defense Minister Yazov, Interior Minister Pugo, and Gorbachev all asserted that no one in Moscow gave orders to use force in Vilnius. Yazov said that nationalists were trying to form what he called a bourgeois dictatorship. Pugo said on national television that the demonstrators had opened fire first. [4] During the following day, meetings of support took place in many cities (Kiev, Riga, Tallinn).  Although occupation and military raids continued for several months following the attacks, there were no large open military encounters after January 13. Strong Western reaction and the actions of Russian democratic forces put the President and the government of the Soviet Union in an awkward position. This influenced future Lithuanian-Russian negotiations and resulted in the signing of a treaty on January 31. During a visit by the official delegation of Iceland to Lithuania on January 20, Foreign Minister Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson said: "My government is seriously considering the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations with the Republic of Lithuania." Iceland kept its promise, and on February 4, 1991, just three weeks after the attacks, it recognized the Republic of Lithuania as a sovereign independent state, and diplomatic relations were established between the two nations. These events are considered some of the main factors that led to the overwhelming victory of independence supporters in a referendum on February 9, 1991. (Turnout was 84.73% of registered voters, 90.47% of them voted in favor of the full and total independence of Lithuania.) Streets in the neighborhood of the TV tower were later renamed after victims of the attack. [edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
