MOSCOW, March 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The overwhelming majority of Russians do not want U.S.-led occupation forces to succeed in their military offensive against Iraq, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday, March 26.

Eighty-eight percent of Russians believed the United States was wrong to attack Iraq, with seven percent in favor of the U.S. action, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported according to the VTSIOM survey.

Seventy-four percent said they did not want a U.S.-led victory, 13 percent hoped they succeed, while another 13 percent were undecided.

Russia has always been reiterating its flat opposition to the U.S.-led war on Iraq and saying that it would veto any UN Security Council resolution authorizing war on Iraq.

"Resolution 1441 does not give anyone the right to an automatic use of force," he said.

In Spain, the political sphere has been shaken to the core by the war on Iraq, and no public figure has been spared in the bitter debate over the U.S.-led offensive, not even King Juan Carlos.

The staunch pro-war stance of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has set him against over 80 percent of Spaniards who oppose the war, and his stand has now sparked criticism of the respected king for allegedly toeing the government line, AFP said according to a latest Spanish poll.

Aznar and his ruling Popular Party have been savaged in polls, too, with the premier's popularity plunging to record lows and 62.6 percent opposing his handling of government.

Joseba Azkarraga, justice minister in the semi-autonomous northern Basque region, called for Aznar, along with other pro-war leaders, to be brought before the newly formed International Criminal Court.

He told journalists that Madrid's condemnation of Basque separatist attacks was hypocritical since one cannot "then go and turn one's back on massacres and the genocide of a people, as is the case in Iraq."

In parliamentary debate late Tuesday, March 25, Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) spokesman Inaki Anasagasti inflicted what the press dubbed an "unprecedented attack" on the official head of Spain's constitutional monarchy.

Juan Carlos had followed Aznar's lead "to the letter", Anasagasti charged, and because of his silence over the war he was being relegated to a "figurehead for ceremonies".

The lawmaker's public criticism of the king highlights the crisis in Spain's political circles.

"We cannot but express the firm wish that it ends as soon as possible, with a minimum amount of casualties and human suffering, and that peace returns soon," the monarch said.

But Anasagasti brushed off the comments as "pure rhetoric, empty and false," regretting that Juan Carlos had not consulted with Spain's minor political parties over the crisis.

Daily anti-war protests have lashed out at Aznar's alliance with U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, with a million people taking to the streets last Saturday, March 22.

Around 100 offices of the conservative Popular Party have been attacked by demonstrators in the past 10 days, the party said, and the party's mayoral candidate for Barcelona was assaulted with tomatoes and eggs by anti-war protestors on Tuesday.

Around 300 demonstrators hurled bottles and garbage bags, too, at Alberto Fernandez at a public meeting in Spain's second city.