#6
gazeta.ru
March 20, 2003
Russia's politicians united against Iraq war

The Russian State Duma began its Thursday session with a debate on the latest events in Iraq. Russian leader Vladimir Putin has already called on US military action to stop, saying it cannot be justified and was ''a big political error''. At the same time, Duma left-wingers and the far-right LDPR party have staged another protest rally in front of the US embassy in Moscow.

On Thursday Communists and Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal-Democratic Party (LDPR) continued to protest against the US-led campaign against Iraq. In the morning the left-wingers and their supporters gathered in front of the US embassy, carrying banners with slogans in support of Iraq and condemning the US military operation that began in the early hours of Thursday. Some 200 people were taking part in the rally, the police said.

A day earlier the Communists, along with their allies, the Agrarian Party, and the members of the LDPR faction walked out of the parliament after their motion to debate the situation in Iraq was rejected by the rest of the deputies. Outraged by both the US' war-mongering and their colleagues' inaction, the Communists could no longer restrain themselves. ''Bush is a new Hitler,'' one of the communists fumed, while the LDPR leader said he did not want to go on working with this sort of parliament.

On Wednesday Gennady Seleznyov, the State Duma chairman was admitted to Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital, diagnosed as having pneumonia and in his absence, the vice-speaker Irina Khakamada (co-chairperson of the liberal Union of Rightist Forces) presided over the session. Just as the house began discussing the agenda for the meeting Vladimir Zhirinovsky rounded on her and demanded that the Duma immediately proceed to a discussion on Iraq. ''All the parliaments of the world are beginning their work with an hour of debates on the war in Iraq,'' he fumed.

Khakamada reminded him that the State Duma, too, planned to hold a special session dedicated to that issue on Thursday. Zhirinovsky retorted brusquely that such pressing matters could not be delayed.

A week earlier the State Duma rejected another Iraqi initiative from Zhirinovsky's faction, calling on Vladimir Putin to join George W. Bush in his attack on Iraq, so that the two nations could divide Iraqi oil wells between them. Earlier, the Duma had watched a scandalous videotape featuring a person very much resembling the LDPR leader in an obscene outburst against Bush.

Yet, on Wednesday the Duma again refused to include the Iraqi issue in the agenda. The Communists then joined in. Deputy Sergei Reshulsky called on the deputies, outraged by the behaviour of the ''state terrorist Bush'', to suspend work on the eve of war, and instead to gather in front of the US embassy in protest against the US' intentions.

Communists, Agrarians and the LDPR heeded Reshulsky's calls, and the three factions left the house. Before leaving, though, they made several more remarkable statements concerning the US leader. Communist Valentin Romanov called Bush ''a cowboy with a nuclear baton''. The People's Deputy Group's Ivan Zhdakeyev called on Putin to render technical assistance to Saddam Hussein, and for the deputies to fly to Iraq on board Russian planes carrying weapons ''in order to see the US reaction,'' Zhdakeyev explained. Another Communist, Nikolai Bindyukov, said he was severing all relations with the US Congress.

During the break the deputies who remained in the conference-hall emerged before the press. Irina Khakamada denounced the left-wingers' move as ''irresponsible''. ''They knew that this issue would not be debated today. This was a PR stunt. Their walkout will not stop the war,'' she said.

''Tomorrow we will have all the information. And then we will think what should be done. Today it would be useless to discuss this issue,'' the head of the foreign affairs committee Dmitry Rogozin agreed with the vice-speaker.

In the meantime, the Communists and LDPR faction members gathered in front of the US embassy under the red banners of the CPRF and blue banners of the Liberal-Democrats. They carried slogans with inscriptions like ''Bush, hands off Iraq!'' The rally was not particularly large -- some 100 people took part.

On Thursday, the left-wingers continued their protests, even as the State Duma started its work with a debate on the latest events in Iraq. The deputies had prepared a draft message to the president, proposing that a special session of the UN General Assembly on Iraq be convened.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned U.S. military action against Iraq on Thursday and called for a rapid end to U.S. operations. He told senior ministers in the Kremlin: ''Military action can in no way be justified. Military action is a big political error.'' If the world submitted to the right of might then no country would be safe, he said. ''It is for these reasons that Russia insists on an end as quickly as possible to military action.''

In televised comments broadcast by Channel One, the head of the foreign affairs committee Dmitry Rogozin echoed the president's sentiments and blasted the US for carrying out a strike on Iraq bypassing the UN Security Council, while no substantial proof of Saddam Hussein's possessing arms of mass destruction had been provided.

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