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President Decrees Firing

VILNIUS, Lithuania () -- Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas on Monday carried out a threat to force Prime Minister Adolfas Slezevicius from office when he signed a decree to dismiss the embattled premier.


Slezevicius has already insisted he will not stand down in the wake of the country's December banking crisis. Since then, tension between the two men has boiled over into full-blown confrontation.


The stalemate will be settled by a parliamentary vote Feb. 8, Brazauskas said. The presidential decree will need the support of 70 of the 139 deputies in the parliament for it to become effective, a government spokesman said.

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