Relatives of Soviet crackdown victims file lawsuit against USSR president Gorbachev

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev arrives for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 9, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Relatives of victims of a 1991 Soviet crackdown against Lithuania's pro-independence government filed a civil lawsuit in Vilnius against former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, 90, claiming he failed to stop the military operation.

Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare independence from Moscow, in March 1990. The Soviet Union was formally dissolved in December 1991.