Unofficial Translation

Russia has taken with serious concern and puzzlement the statement made yesterday by the NATO Council at the defense minister level on the situation in Chechnya.

Noting in shorthand their recognition of the territorial integrity of Russia and its right to defend itself against terrorism, the heads of the NATO military establishments accuse us of “disproportional and indiscriminate” use of force, urge us to show “restraint” towards bandits and lecture us on what political instruments the Russian Federation should employ in order to settle that internal conflict.

Moreover, the defense ministries of the member countries of the Alliance seem to be aiming to escalate tensions over the events in Chechnya. There is no other interpretation for their “concern” over the possibility of the conflict spilling over into neighboring countries.

Such “commitment to peace” on the part of those figures who quite recently unleashed a large-scale act of armed aggression against the sovereign FRY and dropped thousands upon thousands of bombs and missiles on Yugoslavia’s civilian targets, killing and crippling absolutely innocent citizens of that country, looks at least cynical.

One gets the impression that NATO has seriously decided to try on the “world policeman’s” uniform and intervene where no one invites the Alliance to intervene.

We think it necessary to state most resolutely anew that the Chechen problem is Russia’s internal affair and that we will address it on our own, without mediators. No one has any intention to conduct any talks with terrorists, bandits and rapists.

As for the leadership of the Alliance, who are paying lip service to their concern over the present status of the Russia-NATO relationship, we would like to remind them that the attempts to talk with us in this vein are only counterproductive, and they will not bring about any positive results.

December 3, 1999