World Notes SOVIET UNION

Breaking up is not that hard to do -- especially if it's been done before. More than a month after its neighbors Lithuania and Estonia declared their independence from Moscow, Latvia last week became the final Baltic republic to split from the Soviet Union. By a vote of 138 to 0, the Latvian parliament approved the start of an unspecified period of transition to full independence. In the interim, it called for negotiations with Moscow.

The independence movement in Latvia is in part a means for ethnic Latvians, who make up only 54% of the population, to avoid becoming a minority. But independence leaders are proceeding cautiously. Lithuania is still suffering under Moscow's economic restrictions for its abrupt secession on March 11.