RUSSIA: MOSCOW AMBASSADOR CONDEMNS AIR STRIKES
(19 Dec 1998) Russian/Nat Moscow's ambassador to London, Yuri Fokin, has again condemned the U-S-British airstrikes over Iraq, saying there should be concern about the Security Council being bypassed. He made these comments on his return to the Russian capital. Fokin was recalled by the Foreign Ministry Friday morning in protest at Britain's role in the bombardment of Iraq. Russia's ambassador to Britain, Yuri Fokin, flew into Moscow's international airport on a scheduled Aeroflot flight from Heathrow late on Friday evening. Speaking to reporters in the airport V-I-P lounge, Fokin said his recall to Moscow resulted from Russia's 'duty' to demonstrate its attitude to events in the Gulf. SOUNDBITE (English): "I'm quite calm about the situation. It was evidently a reaction to a very dramatic event in the Middle East, in Iraq. And I guess we had the right and the duty to demonstrate our attitudes to the perpetrators of this act in Iraq." SUPER CAPTION: Yuri Fokin, Russia's Ambassador to Britain He said the military action was dangerous - not only because of the damage caused to the Iraqi people, but because it was an affront to the United Nations Security Council, which did not authorise the action. SOUNDBITE (English): "It is dangerous because people are suffering, people are killed, people are wounded. And in a more wide political sense, we are facing something that should be up to the entire world public opinion - if it is an attempt to review the present security attitudes in the world, to diminish the role of the Security Council of the United Nations, then this should be a concern for everybody who thinks about these matters." SUPER CAPTION: Yuri Fokin, Russia's Ambassador to Britain Russia has also recalled its ambassador to Washington, Yuli Vorontsov, who is expected back in Moscow tomorrow. Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov warned U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in a telephone conversation earlier on Friday evening that a failure to call halt to military action in Iraq could seriously damage bilateral relations. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
