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Interfax, March 18, 2003

Yavlinsky proposes applying military-political pressure against Baghdad instead of force

Moscow, March 18, 2003. Interfax. The leader of YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky proposes applying military-political pressure against Saddam Hussein's regime to resolve the Iraqi crisis, instead of sheer force.

At a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday Yavlinsky stated that in this case it would be viable to act "in the cold war style: applying indirect military and political pressure."

"Russia's position in this case is correct: we oppose in every manner possible the launch of a war, as it is fraught with the risk of a huge number of victims," noted the leader of YABLOKO.

Yavlinsky also expressed his view that an international military contingent represented by France, Germany and Russia could have been stationed around Iraq and applied pressure against Saddam Hussein "to disarm Iraq and create a transparent and predictable regime of rule there", before noting: "Unfortunately we have so far failed to achieve the adoption of such a decision."

"However, the 48 hours [of George Bush's ultimatum] issued to Saddam Hussein today can be used by Russia to propose its own initiatives aimed at achieving a mutually acceptable resolution of the problem," said Yavlinsky.

Yavlinsky also thinks that the current developments around Iraq will not be "the last case", adding: "They will be followed by North Korea, Iran, Syria and half of the CIS, and then "friendly" totalitarian regimes like Saudi Arabia, in other words all the countries that are closed, have totalitarian or semi-totalitarian regimes inclined to obtain weapons of mass destruction." The YABLOKO leader also noted that "if we adhere to this chain of events, the wars will last for decades."

Therefore, stated Yavlinsky, a new general policy towards such countries should be developed, which should be based on the imposition of "indirect military and political pressure" on the ruling regimes.

See also:

Situation Around Iraq

Interfax, March 18, 2003

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