Terrorist attacks on U.S.: the international reaction (10/28/01)

Terrorist attacks on U.S.: the international reaction

Special from RFE/RL Newsline

Powell refers to Chechen "resistance"

MOSCOW - An article in Vremia MN on October 19 criticized U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for saying that "not every Chechen taking part in the resistance is necessarily a terrorist." By using the word "resistance" - a word that has positive connotations because of its links to the French freedom fighters in World War II - the article said, Mr. Powell implied a parallel with Lithuania, noting that "Western countries never recognized the annexation of the Baltic countries by the Soviet Union." This terminological difference, the article continued, points to a deep divide among the members of the anti-terrorist coalition.

Putin, Bush agree on fighting terrorism

MOSCOW - At a joint press conference on October 21 following a one-on-one meeting in Shanghai at the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush said that they are in complete agreement on the need to combat global terrorism "to the very end." On October 19 Mr. Putin told the APEC summit that Russia remains "unchanged" in its support for the U.S. counterterrorism effort but that he believes there needs to be a stronger international legal framework in order to overcome terrorism. Specifically, Mr. Putin said, "the legal systems of many countries don't give a clear definition of terrorism," a failing he suggested makes it more difficult to fight those who engage in it.

Zhirinovsky: Russia deserves concessions

MOSCOW - In an interview published in the issue of Sobesiednik for October 18-24, Duma Vice-Chairman and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said Russia's current geopolitical position permits the country's leadership to make certain demands on the United States in exchange for their support of the American anti-terrorist effort. "No one should give anything without receiving something in return," Mr. Zhirinovsky said.

Coalition basis for new world order?

MOSCOW - In an article published in Rossiiskaya Gazeta on October 20, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev said that the international coalition should quickly convert itself into a coalition for a new and fair world order. He said it should fight poverty because poverty is a seedbed of terrorism. "If the struggle against terrorism is reduced to military action alone," Mr. Gorbachev said, "the world will eventually lose."

Four states to coordinate Afghan relief

DUSHANBE - Meeting in Dushanbe on October 19, the Russian, Tajik, Kazak and Kyrgyz senior government officials responsible for dealing with emergency situations pledged long-term cooperation in coordinating shipments of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, Russian agencies reported. Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu warned after the consultations that only the swift dispatch of humanitarian aid can prevent an exodus from Afghanistan of the estimated 252,000 displaced persons now congregated in the north of the country, Interfax reported. Mr. Shoigu told journalists that three routes will be used to transport relief aid: one from the southern Kyrgyz town of Osh via Tajikistan to Faizabad and Ishkashim, one from the town of Kulyab in southern Tajikistan to the Panjsher valley, and one from Uzbekistan that must still be finalized with his Uzbek counterpart.

Ministry denies anthrax of Russian origin

MOSCOW - Yurii Fedorov, the chief of the Department of Emergency Situations at the Health Ministry, told Interfax on October 18 that there is no chance that the strains of anthrax that have been found in the United States are of Russian origin. Meanwhile, in an article published in The Moscow Times the same day, defense analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said that Russia has some rare strains of anthrax and "the world's best complex anthrax vaccine," which it refused to make available to the United States when asked by Washington to do so during the Desert Storm operation in 1991.

Estonian PM cites Cheney's support

TALLINN - In an interview in Postimees on October 18, Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar said U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney thanked him for Estonia's support in the fight against terrorism and assured him that the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 have not changed America's political priorities and that NATO expansion will proceed with no third-party interference. He mentioned that Mr. Cheney's meeting with the Estonian officials was a clear indication that Estonia is being treated as an equal partner.

Chechen MD: West ignores brutality

LONDON - Khassan Baiev, a Chechen doctor who has treated victims on both sides of the lines in Chechnya, said in an interview published in The Independent on October 18 that the West has failed to pay attention to Russian brutality in Chechnya. The same day, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told journalists that during the talks in Shanghai Washington will press Moscow to seek a political settlement in Chechnya, Agence France-Presse reported.

U.S. envoy thanks Uzbekistan's Muslims

TASHKENT - Meeting with staff members of the Muslim Spiritual Board of Uzbekistan, U.S. Ambassador John Herbst thanked Uzbekistan's Muslim community for their support of the U.S.-led anti-terrorist strikes against neighboring Afghanistan, Interfax reported on October 17.

Russians don't support alliance

MOSCOW - A survey of recent polling data published in Izvestia on October 15 suggested that most Russians do not support President Vladimir Putin's decision to ally Moscow with the U.S.-led counter-terrorism effort. That is not because Russians are ignorant or supportive of terrorism, but rather because they do not trust the United States and believe that Washington will try to exploit the campaign for its own broader geopolitical and economic interests, according to a commentary on the poll findings. The article noted that this should not surprise anyone because most Russians have still not decided whether Russia should be part of the West or pursue a special course with the East.

Commentators: U.S. faces tough going

MOSCOW - Former Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov told ITAR-TASS on October 15 that the United States may find itself sinking "into a quagmire" in Afghanistan much like the one in which the Soviet Union found itself in the past. Meanwhile, an article in Parlamentskaya Gazeta on October 13 suggested that Osama bin Laden is likely to prove difficult and perhaps impossible to capture. Russian ecologists believe that it is completely possible that the Taliban and the other terrorists may have and use biological weapons, Interfax reported on October 15.

Paper says U.S. guilty of terrorism

MOSCOW - An article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on October 13 said that the U.S. has been guilty of provoking and carrying out terrorist acts against Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his regime. It suggested that the U.S. might use the cover of the anti-terrorist campaign to attack Castro again. The same issue of the paper carried another article suggesting that American intellectuals are concerned that the war against terrorism will give birth to a new outburst of McCarthyism in the United States.

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