The World - News from Sept. 15, 1989

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, in an attempt to ease nationalist tension in the Baltic republics, met with the leaders of those republics--Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia--and supported their drive for greater autonomy, Estonian party chief Vaino Valjas said. Valjas told Estonian television that Gorbachev expressed concern that his perestroika program was threatened by conservatives, however, and that it was necessary for reformers in both Moscow and the Baltics to be united. Next week, the Soviet Central Committee is scheduled to meet, and the Baltics’ effort is expected to be a major issue.