 Complete the following phrase:  By mid-June, after unsuccessful economic blockade of Lithuania, the Soviets started negotiations with Lithuania and the other two Baltic republics. The Soviets had a bigger challenge elsewhere, as the Russian federal republic proclaimed sovereignty in June. Simultaneously the Baltic republics also started to negotiate directly with the Russian federal republic. After the failed negotiations the Soviets made a dramatic but failed attempt to break the deadlock and sent in military troops killing twenty and injuring hundreds of civilians in what became known as the Vilnius massacre and The Barricades in Latvia during January 1991. In August 1991, the hard-line members 