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President Bill Clinton said that the
United States wants to minimize the
number of casualties as much as possible
in Chechnya.
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WASHINGTON (AFP)- US President Bill Clinton on Tuesday stepped up US calls for Russia to begin negotiations to end Moscow's continuing offensive attacks against the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
"We will continue to press for a minimization of civilian casualties and a maximum use of negotiating options to settle this," Clinton told reporters at the White House as he prepared to
begin a cabinet meeting.
His comments came as Russia reacted angrily to US State Department allegations that it was violating international agreements on the conduct of war, including the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit deliberate attacks on civilian populations.
"The Chechen problem is an internal Russian matter," said Igor Chabdurasulov, the deputy to the Kremlin chief of staff.
"There has never been a question of conducting a war against the Chechen people, but a military operation to crush the sources of terrorism," ITAR-TASS quoted him as saying.
Clinton, asked how he felt the Russians were responding to US concerns, appeared to acknowledge Moscow's response, saying that he must speak delicately in order for the message to get across.
"However I answer that minimizes the chances that we will have any influence over the decision because I think that no country wants to be seen as giving in to pressure from another country," he said.
But he repeated Washington's insistence that in order for the conflict to be fully resolved, negotiations would be required.
"I think that in the end there will have to be a political solution and I hope that it will come sooner than later so that fewer people will die," the president said.
Last week on the sidelines of a Middle East peace summit in Oslo, Clinton tried to convince Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to open negotiations with Chechen leaders and the subject is to be raised again next week a European security summit in Ankara.
