Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 1, 1991 TAG: 9103010413
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
"We must rule out completely any resumption of military action in the Persian Gulf region," Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh said at a news conference.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov called for a sweeping review of Soviet air defenses in the wake of the U.S.-led victory over Iraq and its Soviet-built weapons, the state news agency Tass reported.
Yazov told lawmakers that Soviet air defenses have "weak spots" and that the military "is analyzing the use of armed forces by the United States and other countries" during the war.
The U.S.-led allies trounced Iraqi forces during the six-week air war that preceded the ground offensive. Most Iraqi pilots were flying Soviet-built MiG or French-built Mirage fighter jets, and Yazov said they "failed in most cases" in dogfights with allied planes.
Yazov said all downed allied jets were brought down by anti-aircraft weapons, mostly by the Soviet-designed Shilka system used by Iraq, Tass reported.
Bessmertnykh said the Soviet Union called for the U.N. Security Council to discuss postwar stability and urged arms-exporting countries to consider jointly reducing arms sales to the region.
"I believe the Soviet Union could not and is not intending to consider its approach to this issue . . . on an individual basis. We have started to discuss such an issue with the United States and some of the states of the Middle East," he said.
During the gulf crisis, the allied forces repeatedly rejected Iraq's attempts to link a Gulf War settlement to broader regional issues, such as the future of the Palestinians.
Soviet leaders have not detailed their postwar plan for the region, but some experts have said it calls for disarming the major regional powers under a U.N.-supervised peace conference.
"We welcome the liberation of Kuwait, the restoration of its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and the restoration of the lawful government of this country," he said, reading a statement.
"For the first time, the international community showed its unified will in the face of the occupation of one country by another."
Bessmertnykh said the Gulf War highlighted the need to resume searching for a solution to other Middle East problems, including the future of the Palestinians.
"We are resolved to get down urgently, together with the Arab states, Israel, and all other sides involved in the conflict, to the settlement of the Middle East problem which is the main source of instability, lack of trust and continuing arms race in the region," he said.
"The time is ripe" for countries that previously lacked political will to tackle such questions to "take a fresh look and re-evaluate their approach," Bessmertnykh said, apparently referring to Israel.
Asked whether Moscow supported Saddam Hussein's continued presidency of Iraq, Bessmertnykh declined to comment, saying that would be interfering in Iraq's internal affairs.
The chairman of the Soviet parliament, Anatoly Lukyanov, earlier Thursday described the cease-fire as a "major victory" for President Mikhail Gorbachev. But Bessmertnykh said no single country could claim all the credit.
Before the U.S.-led ground offensive began, Gorbachev tried to broker a peace agreement with Iraq, a former Soviet ally and arms purchaser. None of the agreements reached during two weeks of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Baghdad was acceptable to the U.S.-led coalition.
Bessmertnykh said he agreed with Gorbachev's assessment earlier in the week that Soviet-U.S. relations, strained by the war and the Kremlin's crackdown in the Baltic republics, were "fragile." But he was optimistic they would improve.
He said he might soon meet Secretary of State James Baker and that a rescheduled superpower summit "also cannot be excluded."
by CNB