WASHINGTON, June 5 : The United States on Tuesday criticised a Soviet show of force in the Lithuanian Capital of Vilnious, saying it would raise tensions in the breakaway Baltic Republic, reports Reuter.

"We do not understand how this display of force can be consistent with the expressed in tensions of Moscow to avoid violence," said State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler.

"We continue to urge that all outstanding issues between Lithuania and Moscow be settled by good faith negotiations, that measures be taken to prevent incidents of this kind in order to lower tensions and actively pursue peaceful negotiations," she said.

The show of force, in which Soviet troops briefly set up check points near the Lithuanian parliament building, came a day after the Soviet state prosecutor's office issued a report exonerating the Soviet army from any blame for a crackdown in Vilnius last January In which 13 civilians were killed.

Tutwiler also criticised the report, saying the State Department "Found the conclusions ... to be at odds with facts as has widely been reported."

The United States never recognised the Soviet Incorporation of Lithuania and the two other Baltic republics of Latvia and Estonia in 1940 under the terms of a secret pact with Nazi Germany.