March 24, 2003	Monday	Muharram 20, 1424

MOSCOW, March 23: The foreign ministers of Russia and India warned on Sunday that the US bombardment in Iraq could lead to “a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe” in the region.

“If such strong bombings with enormous destructive power continue, they will inevitably soon bring on a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe that could affect the whole region,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement after phone talks between Russia’s Igor Ivanov and India’s Yashwant Sinha.

“The international community cannot allow this. Russia and India want the regulation of the Iraqi problem brought back to the Security Council and they strongly call for this,” the statement said.

The two foreign ministers “expressed their profound concern over military operations undertaken against Iraq by the United States and Britain, bypassing the UN Security Council,” it said.

Russia has been one of the loudest opponents to the US war in Iraq, which is also opposed by India. —AFP