Vilnius

MOSCOW -- Soviet "Black Beret" troops seized the central telephone exchange in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, yesterday, severing the city's communications for more than two hours.The commanders of the troops, who are responsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said that they were looking for weapons caches and that they found explosives, a fuse and rifle ammunition.Boris K. Pugo, the minister of internal affairs, said he knew nothing of the operation, but a ministry spokesman said later that it was justified and had been approved by a Soviet prosecutor.

MOSCOW -- Ignoring the testimony of dozens of eyewitnesses and videotapes, the Soviet prosecutor general's office yesterday issued a report claiming that the 13 Lithuanians who died during the seizure of Vilnius broadcasting facilities in January were not killed by Soviet troops.The conclusion contradicts massive evidence published by both Soviet and Western sources and suggests that the regime of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is unwilling or unable to acknowledge the truth about the Vilnius killings.

The Lithuanian Hall on Hollins Street erupted with applause and screams of "Bravo! Bravo!" as the tour of classical musicians triumphantly ended their concert.But pianist Grazina Landsbergiene is not so concerned about the praise. Her first love is the music, a love that takes her on tour away from her country and from her other duties -- those as the wife of the president of Lithuania."When I'm here, my conscience hurts that I can't care about my husband now, especially in this difficult time for my country," said Landsbergiene.

Representative Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md.-3rd, returned home early yesterday from a congressional tour of the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, convinced they will be "fully independent.""I just hope and pray it will be without violence," he said.Mr. Cardin was part of a 14-member congressional delegation headed by Representative Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.-5th, that left for the republics a week ago -- just hours after Lithuanian citizens, in a non-binding popular vote, backed a declaration of independence by a 13-to-1 margin.

VILNIUS, U.S.S.R. -- Boosted by a landslide victory at the polls, Lithuania's president has called on the United States to warn Moscow to keep its hands off Lithuania.Vytautas Landsbergis also disclosed yesterday that it was President Bush who, during a White House meeting last December, suggested a republic-wide vote "as a way of expressing the nation's will."Landsbergis told reporters the beleaguered Vilnius government has a right to expect a bolder turn in U.S. policy. Meanwhile, the Kremlin called the vote unconstitutional.

VILNIUS, Lithuania -- Thousands of Lithuanians cheerfully defied Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and flocked to the polls yesterday to show their overwhelming support for independence, while the Kremlin dispatched troops to the republic to show they haven't won it yet.With all but a few precincts reporting by early this morning, just over 90 percent of voters had backed Lithuania's self-proclaimed status as a "democratic, independent republic," the...

MOSCOW -- Under pressure in the West and at home for military attacks that have taken a score of lives in the Baltic republics, the Kremlin is staging a tactical retreat from its hard-line stance of recent weeks.Minister of Internal Affairs Boris K. Pugo made a major concession yesterday on the explosive issue of army-police patrols scheduled to begin tomorrow in some Soviet cities. He told the newspaper Rabochaya Tribuna that republican authorities could cancel the patrols if they felt the crime situation did not require military intervention.

MOSCOW -- In a move denounced by republican officials and human rights activists as a major step toward martial law, Soviet authorities have ordered joint army-police patrols organized in all major cities beginning Feb. 1.The joint order of Minister of Defense Dmitry T. Yazov and Minister of Internal Affairs Boris K. Pugo calls for the patrols to be specially trained,well-armed and to use armored vehicles when necessary.It says they are "a response to demands of the Soviet people to strengthen law and order in the country and to ensure the safety of Soviet people."

Each time their phone rang Wednesday evening, Algimantas and Kathryn Grintalis jumped and their hopes soared.For four days they had been trying to get through to their homeland of Lithuania, trying to contact a close friend for first-hand news of the bloody Soviet crackdown against the Baltic state's fledgling democratic government."

MOSCOW -- President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, enraged by press criticism of the Soviet army assault in Lithuania, stunned the parliament yesterday by calling for a return to control of the media, just months after censorship was officially ended."