DATE=10-31-02

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=MOSCOW HOSTAGE AFTERMATH

NUMBER=6-12696

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The raid by Russian special forces to rescue hundreds of people held hostage at a Moscow theater is drawing increasing criticism from around the world. More than 110 of the hostages were killed when the commandos used gas to incapacitate the numerous Chechen guerrillas who were holding them captive.

We get a sampling of global reaction now from V-O-A's ___________ in this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Newspapers in many of the planet's biggest cities are uniform in condemning the approximately 50 heavily armed Chechen terrorists who stormed the theatre last week during a performance. However the use of gas in the heavy-handed rescue and poor coordination is being heavily criticized.

We begin our sampling in Moscow, where Vremya MN contends:

VOICE: Hostage-taking in Moscow has born out the truth that you can't wage a war at home and remain unscathed. Renaming the war [in Chechnya] an 'antiterrorist campaign' and, after September 11th, a 'war on international terrorism' changes nothing - - the second Chechen war, which, in effect, is a war against the civilian population, will always beget people, men and women, who won't stop at crossing the line that separates other people's deaths from their own.

TEXT: For its part, Izvestiya sees in the restrained United States reaction a new realization for all to grasp.

VOICE: It must be clear now that the West, primarily the United States, is our partner in the anti-terrorist coalition and strategic ally. Anyone who may have doubts about that would do well to look at how Washington reacted to the latest events in Moscow. It did so with a lot of tact, restraint, sympathy and compassion. This is the way a true ally reacts to another ally getting in trouble.

TEXT: Still in the Russian capital, Nezavisimaya Gazeta ran a column by the Deputy Chairman of the government's Defense Committee:

VOICE: Obviously, the Chechen war can't go on forever. Since we may face more tragedies, we need to reconsider every aspect of our security. … the federal center must pursue a more active policy in Chechnya. Up to now it has been adrift… The Moscow hostage crisis shows that we don't have that long. We must stop the war now.

TEXT: In Western Europe, a German reaction comes from Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

VOICE: It goes without saying that [President] Putin can't currently talk with the rebel leadership about a settlement of the Chechen conflict. As long as the bigger fighting continues, there is no room for official talks … But there is and there must be room for unofficial secret contacts. … now when Moscow feels strong after the end of the hostage drama, the hawks and hardliners are destroying the little that exists as a basis for talks.

TEXT: Moving on to Italy, the premier business daily, Milan's Il Sole-24-Ore suggests:

VOICE: The Russian government has given in to international pressures and, after a few days of embarrassing silence … revealed that the mysterious gas used during the raid by its special forces was an anesthetic … made of Fentanyl … While the number of … victims … has increased to 119, the anti-terrorism campaign - - or, better [Editors: we would say "more accurately"] the anti-Chechen campaign - - is rapidly expanding in Russia. … the Kremlin [is playing] the card of international terrorism to dismantle the leadership of the Chechen rebels.

TEXT: In Spain, Madrid's ABC observes:

VOICE: Several Western leaders say in private what they do not say in public: {President] Putin, rather than saving hostages' lives, solved this crisis wanting above all to keep his image as a man who one does not joke with. You can't make Russia bend to its knees, he said… It is … surprising … that some European leaders [though] only a few … have congratulated the executive [Putin]. Power is there to defend citizens, not … kill them off.

TEXT: An equally critical editorial runs in Sweden's major daily, Dagens Nyheter from Stockholm, pointing out:

VOICE: The parallel to the Kursk submarine accident is evident with regards to Russian actions in connectiction with the Moscow hostage crisis. Then, just as now, silence was the lodestar. Erroneous information was dispersed, the lid was put on … It is not a very positive picture of the state of Russian democracy that has been depicted…

TEXT: In Poland, the Warsaw daily Rzeczpospolita says that Denmark's arrest of Chechnya's Vice President Akhmed Zakayev, at Russia's request "… augurs badly for the Chechen [cause]."

Moving on to Asia, and the sub-continent, we read in this Pioneer editorial from India:

VOICE: From the beginning, President [Putin] … ending the hostage crisis … on terms dictated by the terrorists, would have given a major boost to fundamentalist Islamic terrorism worldwide… The pumping in of a gas that induced sleep was a novel idea…

TEXT: Turning to our northern neighbor, Canada, in Ontario's Toronto Star we see this column suggesting:

VOICE: There is reason to be shocked … that none of the leaders of countries where life is treasured … such as Canada and the United States … has had anything critical to say about this mass slaughter (about as many innocents dead as in Bali). We all know the reasons for the silence. Russia is an ally in the war against terrorism. It holds the trump card of a veto in the U-N's Security Council. Criticizing Russia for … [breaching] the international … chemical weapons … treaty … would invite awkward comparisons with the fact that we're about to attack Iraq for only allegedly doing the same thing…

TEXT: Argentina's most important daily La Nacion in Buenos Aires is upset at how things turned out.

VOICE: More than 115 dead, in addition to those 150 who are interned in intensive therapy and 46 in critical condition, was the outcome of the terrorist attack against the ... theater ... by a Chechen guerilla command. This tragedy compels us to rethink the need for designing world strategies to prevent and face, when it is unavoidable, terrorist incursions without jeopardizing the security of those held as hostages…

TEXT: On to today's last word, from the big Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo we read in an editorial this stark assessment:

VOICE: Those who rushed to praise President Putin for the rescue … ended only by harming themselves… The Russian government was not concerned with saving hostages. Its only concern was to reestablish order, and its exclusive goal was not to demonstrate any sign of weakness to the Chechen separatists. This is why it used unlimited force and veiled the operation with a secrecy that has cost the lives of dozens of innocent people…

TEXT: With that unflattering assessment of the Russian action, from Brazil's big O Estado de Sao Paulo, we conclude today's World Opinion Roundup.

NEB/ANG/MAR