US President Bush assures audience: no more Munich or Yalta events in Europe

US President George Bush said speaking Saturday in Vilnius' City Hall Square that there would be no repetitions of the Munich or Yalta events in Europe, and that fascism and communism had sunk into oblivion.

About 10,000 persons gathered in the square to greet the American leader.

"Today is a memorable day for Lithuania, for the Baltic states, for Nato," said the US president. Bush said Lithuania today was a democratic country, worthy of joining the North-Atlantic alliance, and respected in the US and other countries, adding that the USA was a reliable ally of Lithuania and the Baltic countries.

Bush said there were "no borders in Europe dividing countries into blocs, but the free world is threatened with terrorism", the evil, which is fought against by democratic states, including Lithuania.

After the meeting with the public, George Bush and his delegation headed for the US Center in Vilnius.

Saturday also saw a solemn ceremony of meeting the high-ranking guests in the Lithuanian president's residence. The American president talked to the Lithuanian leadership. After the bilateral meeting Bush-Adamkus, Latvian and Estonian Presidents Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Arnold Ruutel joined the conversation