Ukraine condemns U.S. missile attack

[UPI]

MOSCOW (UPI) -- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Tuesday denounced the
weekend missile attack by the United States on the headquarters of the
Iraqi intelligence in Baghdad, calling it ``a rather excessive means''
of fighting terrorism.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko said in a statement
released Tuesday that Kiev considered the U.S. justification for the
attack, which cited its right to self-defense, to be ``groundless.''
The missile strike was ordered by President Clinton after he received
what he described as ``compelling evidence'' showing Iraqi complicity in
a plot to assassinate former President George Bush during his April
visit to Kuwait.
Clinton said the attack was justified by the U.S. right to self-
defense guaranteed in the United Nations charter.
Addressing the Ukrainian Parliament, Zlenko said legal analysis
showed the U.S. missile strike was a ``rather excessive'' means of
fighting terrorism.
He said that according to the U.N. Charter, a state only had the
right to defend itself if it was the victim of an armed attack or if its
territorial integrity was threatened.
Zlenko added that ``the American action was carried out without
consultations with the U.N. Security Council, which is envisaged in this
organization's charter.''
Hard-line communist lawmakers demanded Parliament condemn U.S.
aggression and said the attack might cast doubt on Ukraine's
ratification of the START I nuclear arms reduction treaty, the news
agency Interfax reported.
Zlenko's comments came as legislators in the Russian Parliament
issued a statement condemning the U.S. missile strike as an ``act of
international violence.''
Conservative deputies in Moscow echoed many of Zlenko's criticisms,
particularly his anger at Washington's failure to consult its allies
before launching the attack.