Anti-western feeling grows in Russia over Chechnya

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (AFP) - Foreign pressure and criticisms over the war in Chechnya have inflamed anti-western feeling in Russia, where the vast majority of the population unreservedly backs Moscow's bloody military operations there.

Russian newspapers have accused western countries of starting an "anti-Russian campaign" and being "provocative", criticising France in particular for welcoming the "foreign minister" of the breakaway republic.

"The French have sat down at the negotiating table with the terrorists," the daily Izvestia said, denouncing the talks in Paris on Tuesday between a top official of the French foreign ministry and Chechenya's Ilias Akhmadov.

Western criticism has amplified in recent days. On Monday, the US accused Russia of violating the Geneva conventions by its actions in Chechnya while France on Tuesday said the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would exert strong pressure on Russia at its summit in Istanbul on November 18-19.

Meanwhile an OSCE representive in Ingushetia said Wednesday that Chechnya was not an internal Russian problem.

"The west has no right to preach morality to us over Chechnya. When it suits them, they bomb Iraq or Yugoslavia, killing civilians as well as soldiers," said Vassili, a 40-year-old Muscovite.

According to an opinion poll by the Regional Politics Institute on Thursday, 60 percent of Russians said they believed there should be no negotiations with the Chechen leaders, and 51 percent said they believed in a military solution.

Calls for talks by the United States and an offer of mediation by the OSCE were rejected by Moscow and raised indignation in the press.

"The US decided that it was time to interfere directly in Russia's internal affairs, said Dmitry Gornostaev, a foreign policy commentator for the influential daily Nezavissimaya Gazeta, which is close to the Kremlin.

The daily Segodnia, close to Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, said it was "stupefying to see Washington showing concern for international law after not long ago it was bombing a sovereign country, Yugoslavia."

The NATO attacks on Yugoslavia last March-April caused strong anti-western feeling in Russia, with demonstrations in front of the US embassy and threatening statements by political and military officials.

The anger had since cooled, although many Russians still thought that the western powers, and the US in particular, were intent on dominating the world to the detriment of Russian interests.

Russia began its military operations in Chechnya on October 1, accusing it of harbouring Islamic terrorists, charged with staging a bombing campaign that killed 293 people in Russia in August-September. Islamists last summer also organised two rebellions in the Dagestan republic, which borders on Chechnya in the Russian Caucasus.