Russia disagrees with `axis' remark

 



  MUNICH, Germany -- Russia's defense minister said Sunday that 
his country disagrees with the U.S. view of Iraq, Iran and North 
Korea as an ``axis of evil.'' It is a stark reminder that 
differences remain between two former enemies who have moved 
closer together since Sept. 11.

  Foreign Minister Sergei Ivanov told a global conference of 
government and military leaders that he sees no evidence that 
any of the three nations supports terrorism and insisted that 
any move against them must follow international law.

  President Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an ``axis 
of evil'' during his State of the Union address on Jan. 26. On 
Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Iran of giving 
refuge to al Qaeda or Taliban members escaping from Afghanistan.

  ``The Iranians have not done what the Pakistan government has 
done, put troops along the border to prevent terrorists from 
escaping out of Afghanistan into their country,'' Rumsfeld said 
on ABC's This Week.

  China's official Xinhua news agency also weighed in Sunday on 
Bush's choice of words, accusing the president of orchestrating 
public opinion in advance of possible strikes against the three 
countries in an expansion of the war against terrorism.

  The word ``axis'' suggested an alliance that doesn't exist, the 
Chinese agency said. What the three states do share, it went on, 
is chilly relations with the United States.

  Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino, meanwhile, said Sunday 
that his country would not support an attack on Iraq without 
``proven proof'' that Baghdad is supporting al Qaeda, and Iraqi 
leader Saddam Hussein dispatched a delegation to meet with 
European Union leaders in Spain.

  Ivanov said the West uses a double standard in its definition of 
terrorism, asking why members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda 
network are terrorists, but not Chechen separatists fighting 
Russia. And he unfurled his own list of ``rogue states'' that 
either support terror or build arsenals of deadly weapons.

  ``Well, we don't like some of your allies like Saudi Arabia or 
Gulf states who give finance to terrorism organizations,'' 
Ivanov said.

  His remarks came on the last day of the Munich Conference on 
Security, an invitation-only gathering of 400 international 
leaders who this year debated the war on terrorism.

  A diverse U.S delegation delivered a singular message to 
conference participants: NATO remains vital and the United 
States needs a range of allies in the fight against terrorism 
and intends to consult its friends.

  But America is at war, the audience heard repeatedly. It will do 
what it feels necessary, and Saddam Hussein is the next target 
unless Iraq shapes up.

  Sunday's final session also underscored the vast differences 
between the United States and Russia.

  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Ivanov why Russia supported 
the former Soviet republic of Belarus with cheap energy 
subsidies, when the nation has ``never had a democratic election 
and is a major exporter of arms and equipment.''

  Ivanov said there was no evidence Belarus has sold arms to 
nations under sanction such as Iraq, though it did do business 
with nations not under sanctions such as Tajikistan, Angola and 
``even Gulf states.''



Copyright 2002 Miami Herald