To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his recent meeting with the Soviet ambassador about the situation in Latvia.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs summoned the Soviet chargé on 21 January to underline our concern over the actions of Soviet troops in Riga on 20 January which resulted in a number of deaths. He again urged the Soviet authorities to withdraw their troops from the streets in the Baltic republics and to engage in serious negotiation with the democratically elected authorities in the republics.