Russian Parliament condemns U.S. missile attack on Baghdad

[GUY CHAZAN]

MOSCOW (UPI) -- Russian lawmakers Tuesday deplored the U.S. missile
attack on the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, calling it an
``act of international violence.''
A statement passed by 78-2 in one of Parliament's two chambers said
the missile strike ``revived the cult of violence in international
relations'' and could ``throw the world back to times of enmity and
mutual distrust.''
The motion, put forward by the hard-line Russian Unity faction, said
Parliament ``protests against acts of international violence carried out
by the U.S. and stresses the need to resolve even the most difficult
problems by civilized political methods.''
Parliament's move came after lawmakers heard an official defend the
U.S. action, which was ordered by President Clinton after he received
what he described as ``compelling evidence'' showing Iraq had conspired
to assassinate President George Bush during his trip to Kuwait last
April.
``Terrorism must not go unpunished,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly
Adamishin told the lawmakers.
The official echoed a Foreign Ministry statement Sunday saying the
strike was justified by the U.S. right to defend itself under the U.N.
Charter.
He also said Russia had been informed of U.S. intentions an hour in
advance of the attack, at 1:20 a.m. Sunday in Moscow. But he admitted
that this was too late for Moscow to react in any meaningful way to the
U.S. plan.
Conservative deputies reacted angrily to government support for the
U.S. strike.
``What the Foreign Ministry did is a disgrace for the whole of
Russia,'' said Vasily Shuikov. ``This is just groveling to the U.S.''
Some lawmakers doubted the U.S. ability to prove the crime or Iraq's
complicity, while others said the Foreign Ministry position did not
reflect the views of Parliament or most Russians.
Nationalists have accused Russia's liberal Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev of selling out Russian interests to the United States and
betraying traditional allies like Iraq and Serbia in order to curry
favor with the West.
Vice President Alexander Rutskoi Monday denounced the U.S. attack as
``barbaric'' and ``unjustified both morally and politically.''
He said by jumping to the U.S. defense, the Russian Foreign Ministry
was ``abandoning such ideas as morality and decency in foreign policy.''
But moderates, too, have been critical of Kozyrev's support for the
U.S. action, with the liberal daily Izvestia Tuesday calling it ``a
political advance to Clinton'' on the eve of the G-7 summit in Tokyo,
where Russia is hoping for a promise of large-scale Western aid.
The official Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red
Star) also lambasted the United States over the attack, rejecting
Clinton's justifications and charging that Washington had reverted to a
lynching mentality as prosecutor, judge and executioner in one fell
swoop. The Defense Ministry opinion also said the effect of the bombing
would be to strengthen the Iraqi regime.
Adamishin deflected charges that Moscow was pursuing a pro-Western
policy, and said high-level political talks were being held with Iraqi
officials to prepare for the time when U.N. sanctions against Baghdad
are removed.
He stressed Russia was one of few powers that had not broken off
diplomatic relations with Baghdad, and said Russian policy was aimed at
overcoming Iraq's ``pariah'' status and ``returning it to the
international fold.''
Adamishin also took pains to deny accusations from some hard-line
lawmakers that the United Nations had become an obedient tool in the
hands of U.S. leaders.
As an example, he said Russia's U.N. representative had been given
orders to use his veto at the Security Council to block a resolution put
forward by Muslim countries removing the embargo on arms deliveries to
Bosnia.
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