The State Duma approved a statement Friday upbraiding NATO for its recent air strikes against the Bosnian Serbs and calling on President Boris Yeltsin to protest against NATO actions in the former Yugoslavia.


"The latest bombings in the Serbian Krajina by NATO forces cannot be considered justified," the statement said. "One gets the impression that the United Nations is being used more and more to cover up NATO's military interference in the civil war in the former Yugoslavia. That discredits the very idea of peacekeeping by the UN."


The Duma, the lower house of parliament, called for political methods in resolving the Yugoslav conflict and cautioned the world community against blaming the Serbs for all the atrocities in the war.


The Duma said that if, as a result of "irresponsible action" by sides in the conflict and the North Atlantic alliance, a threat arises to Russian peacekeepers in Bosnia, the Russian troops should be withdrawn.


The Foreign Ministry and Yeltsin were asked by the Duma to "use all political and diplomatic means, including the right of veto in the Security Council, to prevent outside military interference in the former Yugoslavia."