Boris N. Yeltsin promised Lithuania's president Friday that the vast Russian republic will foster close ties with the secessionist Baltic region, Lithuanian sources said.
Yeltsin, who was elected president of the Russian republic on Tuesday, met with Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis for "a very friendly talk with full mutual understanding," said Natasha Boganova, secretary of the Lithuanian representation in Moscow, where the two met."Yeltsin is prepared, as soon as Russia gets its sovereignty, to cooperate fully with the Baltic republics, and Lithuania first of all," she said.
Yeltsin's offer of cooperation signaled his willingness to ignore the Kremlin's economic sanctions against Lithuania, which declared its independence from the Soviet Union March 11 and has been under a partial economic blockade since soon thereafter.
Lithuania, struggling to circumvent the blockade, has been seeking direct ties with newly elected radical leaders in various parts of the country.
On Thursday, the legislature of the republic of Moldavia recognized Lithuania's independence, Tass reported, making it the first Soviet republic outside the Baltics to do so.
The move represented a direct challenge to Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's efforts to isolate Lithuania from the rest of the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev has demanded that Lithuania suspend its declaration of independence before the blockade can be lifted and talks begun. Lithuanian lawmakers have offered compromise measures, but they refuse to suspend the declaration.
Landsbergis was scheduled to meet Friday with delegates from Moscow and Leningrad, where radicals have taken over the city administrations, as well as from other parts of Russia, the Lithuanian parliament's information service said.
Yeltsin has said he expects the Russian parliament to declare the Russian Federation's sovereignty within the first 100 days of his term.
Sovereignty would mean republic authorities would have the final say over which Soviet laws are valid on Russian territory and greater independence in general from the national government.
Yeltsin said repeatedly during his election campaign that he would seek direct ties with Lithuania and the other Baltic republics, Estonia and Latvia, which are also seeking independence.