(FORTUNE Magazine) – The remaining shreds of President Gorbachev's image as a reformer seem to have vanished. In a letter to the Moscow News, his top economic adviser, Nikolai Petrakov, described the Communist Party crackdown in Lithuania as ''criminal,'' and said that Gorbachev either ''justified or approved'' the tactics. Petrakov has left his job, and Western help for the U.S.S.R. is further at risk. The European Community threatened to cut off aid soon after the tanks rolled in. Said Jacques Poos, Foreign Minister for Luxembourg, which holds the EC's rotating presidency: ''All forms of aid will be suspended if repression and the use of force continues.'' President Bush condemned the crackdown. Said he: ''I ask the Soviet leaders to refrain from further acts that might lead to more violence and loss of life.'' That wasn't enough for some. Says Senator Bill Bradley (D-New Jersey): ''It would be a sad irony if the price of Soviet support for freeing Kuwait was American acquiescence in Soviet aggression against another illegally annexed country.'' Adds Representative Pat Schroeder (D-Colorado): ''As we sit here, the Baltics are being invaded. All we're doing is throwing paper at the Soviets.'' Schroeder, Britain's former Prime Minister Edward Heath, and others say that while the U.S. rushes to liberate Kuwait, it virtually ignores foreign occupation of other countries (see following story). - S.S.