Mr. Linnas protested his innocence, and his daughter said the evidence against him had been fabricated by Soviet officials seeking to discredit Baltic nationalists.

Thus, insuring the loyalty - or the departure - of a large, potential fifth column of non-Estonians is a scarcely hidden desire for the more fervent Baltic nationalists.

One of the most significant results of the repression in the Baltic states has been to recreate an alliance between Russian radical politicians and Baltic nationalists.

Mr. Gorbachev deserves much credit for negotiating with the nonviolent Baltic nationalists, forswearing threats of force.

Baltic nationalists would only become more convinced that Russian residents, some of them military retirees, were a fifth column bent on restoring the empire.

That condition, Baltic nationalists maintain, is a technicality of past criminality.

He would also welcome, they believe, a gesture that could be interpreted as an attempt to cool the ardor of Ukrainian and Baltic nationalists, many of them Catholics.

But Moscow has been gradually moving toward an official admission, under pressure from Baltic nationalists.

In addition, the United Nations urges the Baltic nationalists to send representatives who belong to the Soviet Parliament so it can pretend to be receiving Soviet officials.

Two Politburo members have accused Baltic nationalists of violating the rights of Russian-speaking minorities here by imposing restrictive language laws and residency requirements for voters.