"We are seriously worried about the alarming new information from Bosnia," Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigory Karasin told Itar-Tass. NATO planes attacked missile sites of rebel Serb forces besieging the Bosnian pocket of Bihac.
"The dangers of a chain reaction of strong-arm tactics are already obvious. We are convinced they can lead to nothing but prolonged bloodshed," Karasin added.
An anonymous, highly placed ministry official quoted by Interfax went one step further than Karasin, suggesting the West was taking sides.
"There's no doubt that, by shooting at NATO planes which were carrying out a regular UN-sanctioned patrol of the no-fly zone Tuesday, the Bosnian Serbs provoked this strike," the unnamed official said.
"But we can't close our eyes to something else: The international community is gradually shifting round to giving forceful support to only one of the warring sides." He said this could bring full-scale war to the Balkans.
The State Duma on Wednesday prepared a resolution asking President Boris Yeltsin to try to stop foreign military intervention in former Yugoslavia.
The resolution asked Yeltsin to use all possible methods to achieve this end, including exercising Russia's power of veto in the UN Security Council.
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