Russia on Monday condemned the US-British air strikes against Iraq on Thursday, saying they destroyed several important civilian targets, the foreign ministry said.
"We think it necessary to once again call for an end to the virtually daily violations of Iraq's airspace, which result in civilian casualties most of the time," the foreign ministry's statement said, cited by AFP.
"The Iraqi problem can be resolved by constructive dialogue and respect for Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity, not air strikes," the statement said.
"It is important not only to demand that Baghdad fulfill the international community's decisions, but also to create conditions for that," the statement added.
Russia has long been a vocal critic of the no-fly zones, which United States, Britain, and France set up after the Gulf War. France left the coalition after the US and Britain bombed Iraq in December 1998.
The UN has not authorized the zones, which are ostensibly in place to prevent Iraqi attacks on Kurdish and Shiite Muslim minorities.
Iraq has from the beginning said the no-fly zones are illegal because no Security Council Resolution authorizes them.
Russia, which stands to gain from closer economic ties with Iraq, has long supported the Arab state and maintains military and diplomatic ties with the country.
In another development, Iraq said Monday that its anti-aircraft defenses had driven back warplanes from the United States and Britain patrolling the northern no-fly zone.
"Missile batteries and anti-aircraft fire went into action and repulsed planes raiding the provinces of Dohuk, Erbil and Niniveh, forcing them to flee back to their base in Turkey," a military spokesman said, cited by the official INA news agency.
It said other US and British planes on patrol in the southern no-fly zone over Zi Qar and Muthanna provinces were also forced to do an about-face after coming under anti-aircraft fire.
On Friday, Iraqi officials said that US warplanes had attacked and destroyed a radar site in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra a day earlier, wounding a civilian.
US officials said four F-16 jets conducted the night raid with precision-guided weapons on a field used by military and civilian aircraft in the bustling oil-shipping port.
Almost daily clashes over Iraqi skies maintain tensions at a high level, 11 years after Washington led an international coalition that ejected Baghdad's forces from Kuwait.
A US spy drone went missing last Monday over southern Iraq, the first allied aircraft casualty since the 1991 Gulf war. A preliminary US investigation into the loss has produced no concrete results.
Iraq has significantly boosted its air defense over the last year. The US and UK claim the Arab state is mounting a serious challenge to the no-fly zones for the first time since the war.
Baghdad says more than 350 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured by US and British raids since December 1998.
The US and UK maintain their warplanes at Incirlik airbase in Turkey, which in the last decade has carried out a large-scale war to maintain control over its own sizeable Kurdish minority – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
