The Hindu : Russia protests bombing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003

International

International

Russia protests bombing

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW APRIL 2. Russia has protested to the United States over the bombing of a residential area close to the Russian Embassy in Baghdad. The U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, was called to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to be told that the Russian Embassy staff had been exposed to "immediate danger,'' when the allied forces on April 2 bombed a residential area where the Russian mission is situated.

Diplomatic sources said bombs fell within 50 metres of the embassy in an area which had no military facilities. The Russian Foreign Ministry denounced the bombing as "impermissible'' and demanded that the U.S. authorities take urgent and exhaustive measures to rule out such dangerous incidents. It is the third protest Russia has lodged with the U.S. in the past 10 days as relations between the two countries grew strained. On Friday Russia accused the U.S. ambassador in Moscow of making "veiled threats'' to Russian diplomats in Iraq by warning in an interview that it was "pretty risky'' for the diplomats to stay in Baghdad. Russian media reports said the embassy staff included foreign intelligence officers.

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