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 TIMELINE | WHERE THEY STAND | INSIDE UNSCOM | MAPS FORCES IN THE GULF | VIDEO | BIOWEAPONS EXPLAINER |
Russia enraged over Iraq strikes, says relations with U.S. could deteriorate
Yeltsin under pressure to curb Western ties
December 19, 1998Web posted at: 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT)
MOSCOW (CNN) -- Moscow denounced the United States on Friday with the kind of rhetoric not seen since the Cold War, demanding an end to attacks on Iraq and warning that relations with the West could be badly damaged.
In a rare display of political consensus, President Boris Yeltsin and his Communist and nationalist opponents harshly criticized the U.S. and British attacks on Iraq with verbal broadsides reminiscent of the Soviet era.
"We condemn the United States, and nobody should doubt our negative attitude," Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov said.
Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Friday the U.S. and British strikes "flagrantly violated the norms of the international law and openly ignored the world community's efforts to settle the situation." Sergeyev said Moscow's relations with NATO were threatened.
The Foreign Ministry called for a halt to the air attacks and urged a U.N. Security Council meeting to restore peace in Baghdad, a longtime Soviet and Russian friend.
But the United States on Friday put a brave face on its open disagreement with Moscow and said it was confident cooperation with Russia would continue on other international issues.
"The Russians understand the importance of maintaining a broad-based relationship with the United States. They are going to continue working with us on a wide variety of issues," State Department spokesman James Rubin said.
He was reporting the U.S. conclusions from a phone call on Friday between U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov that was apparently dominated by differences over U.S. military operations against Iraq.
Russia digs in its heels
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| Madeleine Albright | |
In Moscow, Ivanov was quoted as saying, "If this action is not stopped, Russian-American relations can seriously suffer."
"Everything must be done to rule out a setback in our relations," the Foreign Ministry said he told Albright.
"We believe we have developed a relationship with Russia that can sustain controversy, differences and difficulties, however sharp they may become," Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering, a former ambassador to Moscow, told a briefing.
"We value our relations with Russia and believe it is important to maintain and sustain those relations," he added.
Rubin, speaking at his daily briefing, acknowledged deep differences with Moscow over Iraq but said there was common ground on the need for Iraq to allow arms inspections.
"Russians, like us, have made clear that Iraq must comply fully with all Security Council resolutions. We do have a profound difference on what to do in the event that Iraq interfered with UNSCOM's (the U.N. Special Commission's) ability to operate," he said.
But he added, "Our relationship is bigger than just Iraq, and we have a lot of business to do -- in Europe and around the world -- and we want to be able to manage differences like we have on Iraq and work together cooperatively in other areas."
Washington says there was no alternative
The United States has answered Russian and other criticism by saying it had exhausted diplomatic efforts with Baghdad and its critics have not offered credible alternatives.
"Clearly the Russians disagree with us about the use of force in Iraq. They, however, have no good ideas about how to solve the problem," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday.
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The Iraq crisis underlines Moscow's loss of global influence and the unhappiness of some Russian political leaders and officials about close post-Soviet ties with the West. Russian officials are furious that they can do little more than complain, recalling how the Soviet Union might have been able to use its global muscle to prevent such an attack.
But Russia is no longer a global power and even the most vehement critics of the West admit privately that Moscow will do little more than growl and indulge in half-hearted saber rattling. Russia, caught in its worst economic crisis since the Soviet collapse, needs the West far too much.
The Kremlin, apparently concerned about the growing rhetoric at a time when it is desperate for Western aid, was already toning down some of the criticism. Presidential aides stressed there was no question of breaking relations with the United States or Britain even though Moscow recalled its ambassadors to protest the airstrikes.
"The president believes that under no circumstances should we slide towards confrontation (with the West), but we should call things by their name. The military strikes are unacceptable and should be stopped," presidential spokesman Dmitry Yakushkin told a Kremlin press briefing.
Senior officials hastened to add that Russia still wanted Western food aid and new loans from the International Monetary Fund.
Yeltsin is under opposition pressure to curb ties with the West at a time when he has lost much of his political clout because of health problems and his failure to handle the economic crisis.
Still, Yeltsin, who was mainly angry about not being informed about the attack in advance, has staked his foreign policy on good ties with the West and is not likely to change course.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.