Russian "resistance" Russia's elite pays lipservice to an outraged population, but has no intention of seriously opposing NATO aggression. Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW-With a shower of paint bombs, rocks, eggs and bottles, thousands of demonstrators outside the US embassy in Moscow on March 25 expressed their outrage at the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Next morning it was the turn of the British embassy, with a demonstration by an estimated 5,000 peopie. The protesters included large numbers of students, and contingents of factory workers organised by the Moscow Federation of Trade Unions.
As the day wore on, the US embassy again became the target of protest. As many as 7,000 people gathered outside the yellow and white building on Moscow's inner ring road, chanting and flinging missiles. Press reports noted the unusual range of people taking part— from skinheads and teenage football fans, to office workers and pensioners. 16 International Viewpoint #311 May 1999
Demonstrations took place accross Russia. "Yesterday Iraq, Today Serbia, Tomorrow Russia, read a placard in St Petersburg. Nationalist organisations signed up military veterans to defend Yugoslavia.
According to survey findings, 93% of Russians oppose NATO's action in bombing Serbia, which has cultural and religious ties to Russia. Russia's state leaders have tuned in to this popular mood-at least rhetorically.
As the first reports of the bombing came in, President Boris Yeltsin hinted that Russia might respond with measures "of a military character". In an interview on March 27, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov accused NATO of committing "genocide" against the Yugoslav people, and suggested that the alliance answer for its actions before the UN war crimes
For anyone who remembers the mood of Russian leaders-and of a good part of the population-in the early 1990s, the scenes of the past days and weeks have been full of irony. Seven or eight years ago, as far as Yeltsin and many of his followers were concerned, the Western powers could do no wrong.
"have-not" of Europe, Russians have been quick to understand that the bombing of Yugoslavia also carries a powerful message for them. If Western something to their advantage, Russian objections will not
And if the Russian state should dare to pursue its interests in ways not to the West's liking, the message continues, the consequences for Russia could be devastating
The Russian elite hurls epithets, the masses gather outside the US embassy and hurl beer bottles, even full ones. But after years of implementing Western economic prescriptions, the Russian government has little idea how to block NATO.
When news of the bombing broke, Russian representatives in the United Nations Security Council demanded an immediate halt to the air strikes. The resolution, predictably, was heavily defeated.
Russia has frozen military collaboration with NATO and postponed ratification of the START-Il nuclear arms reduction treaty. The effect of these moves on the NATO governments, however, has been undetectable. Lack of will
The failure of Russian leaders to make any impact on NATO is not simply a reflection of Russia's drastically