Foreign Powers Step Up Criticism

Two weeks of heavy Russian assaults on Chechnya have caused a gradual shift in international reaction from understanding for a secessionist war to criticism of violence against civilians.


In the last two days, the United States, Germany, Britain and Turkey all escalated their responses.


The Clinton administration expressed concern over growing civilian casualties, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee promised a review of U.S.-Russian relations.


"Senator Helms holds very deep concerns with the widespread civilian casualties in this conflict," a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member said Friday, referring to Jesse Helms, the committee's incoming Republican chairman. "It goes beyond the basic question of sovereignty for Russia and could undermine basic democratic development in Russia."


"The senator does not view the use of the Russian military as a standard democratic means to resolve differences in an internal matter He is deeply concerned it will have a severe impact on democratic procedures in Russia," the spokesman said.


The State Department expressed concern Thursday that Russian forces attacking the breakaway region of Chechnya were still bombing civilian targets, although President Bill Clinton acknowledged the conflict was not "black and white," Reuters reported.


"We are concerned that less than 24 hours after President Yeltsin made his speech to the Russian people there continued to be bombing in Grozny," State Department spokesman Mike McCurry said.


But Clinton said in an interview with radio reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that the Chechnya crisis remained an internal Russian problem with a "secessionist" movement.


"You know we're living in a world where a lot of these problems tug at people and aren't black and white problems, and I think that's a problem for Russia," the president said. "I have made it clear that the United States hopes that this can be resolved quickly and in the most peaceful possible way."


European leaders also have remonstrated with Russia. German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel called his Russian counterpart Andrei Kozyrev to convey Germany's "great concern over the worsening of the situation and the growing number of victims among the civilian population'' in Chechnya, according to a foreign ministry statement in Bonn, Reuters reported Thursday.


The British government told its embassy to register its concerns about Russian bombing raids, an embassy spokesman in Moscow said Friday.


British Ambassador Sir Brian Fall met with Igor Ivanov, first deputy foreign minister Dec. 23 in one of "a number of contacts at senior level" he said.


Britain does not recognize Chechnya as an independent state, a foreign office spokesman in London said, but added: "We continue to hope it can be resolved with full respect for human rights and a minimum of civilian casualties."


Russia's southern Moslem neighbors Iran and Turkey have spoken out strongly against Russia's actions in Chechnya. Iran condemned the bloodshed Wednesday, according to Reuters.


"We demand an end to the attacks on the defenseless Chechen people," said a foreign ministry spokesman quoted by Iranian television.


Turkish President Suleyman Demirel said he had appealed through official channels to Yeltsin for an end to the bloodshed in Chechnya. "A state must think before saying: 'These people are my people' and going in with artillery and guns," Demirel said.


Russia continued to show its sensitivity to the media coverage of Chechnya following Yeltsin's attack Tuesday on the Russian media. The Interior Ministry accused reporters Thursday of distorting the situation in Chechnya and risking soldiers' lives by reporting military operations, Reuters reported.