Russia warns of pre-emptive strikes against militants
Russia reserves the right to carry out pre-emptive strikes on militant bases abroad in the wake of the school hostage seizure, Russia’s defence minister said today.
Sergei Ivanov did not say what countries might be possible targets for a strike, but Russian officials in the past have said Chechen separatists have bases in nearby Georgia.
President Vladimir Putin has blamed international terrorism for the school hostage crisis at Beslan, in southern Russia, where at least 330 hostages died on September 3. He lashed out at those in the West who continued to advise Russia to conduct peace talks with rebels in Chechnya, sneering that they should negotiate with Osama bin Laden.
Ivanov said he spoke twice with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, and that the US administration was more receptive to Moscow’s arguments than some European officials.
“The Americans and the US military have a better understanding of the seriousness of this threat, since we and the United States have both been targeted in powerful terror attacks,” Ivanov said in an interview with NTV television.
“In that sense, it has been easier for us to find a basis for mutual understanding with the United States than with some of the European nations.”
There was no immediate US comment on Russia’s right to pre-emptive strikes. Speaking on Fox television, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the school seizure and other recent attacks in Russia highlighted the need for stronger global anti-terror efforts.
“We have to do even more together to make sure the civilised worlds join together in the war against terrorism,” Powell said.
In today’s interview, Ivanov repeated an earlier statement that a “pre-emptive strike may involve anything, except nuclear weapons.”
“They have declared a war on us, we have come under attack, so all means are good in a war,” he said. “We have permanent readiness units, precision air-launched weapons and so on.”
“In any case, we wouldn’t tell anyone in advance how such pre-emptive strikes would be conducted,” he said. “And we aren’t going to warn anyone either.”
US President George W Bush made an unexpected visit today to the Russian Embassy in Washington and signed a book of condolence for victims of the school seizure, expressing outrage at the actions of “evil terrorists”.
“The atrocities that took place in the school were beyond comprehension,” the president told reporters in a statement broadcast live on Russia’s state television. ”The killers once again remind us of the duties we have as free people to work in concert, to work in unity, to make this world a better place.”
Officials have identified some of more than 30 attackers in the school seizure as Chechens, and have said that others included Arabs and citizens of other nations.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the school hostage-taking was directed by Shamil L. Basayev, the most notorious of the warlords leading Chechen rebels who have been fighting Russian forces for five years.
Lavrov also said Aslan Maskhadov, Chechnya’s president from 1996-99, was connected to the hostage-taking.
Scores of people were still missing after the siege’s chaotic end. Reports say more than 100 of the estimated 1,200 hostages still have not been accounted for.
On Saturday, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian health ministry as saying 353 people wounded in the attack remained in hospital, including 216 children.
