Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II is upset over
the "hegemony of one power" which is observed in the world community.
He stated this at the meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of Iraq to Russia Abbas Halaf.
If the USA begins war operations against Iraq "civilians who are not in
the least involved in the conflict and want to see their future without a war
will perish", the head of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized.
"Old people, women and children will suffer first of all", he said.
The Patriarch recalled that "the so-called 'pinpoint strikes' of the NATO
aviation in Yugoslavia caused death of civilians and destruction of national
holy places". "Furthermore, these 'pinpoint strikes' often did not
attain military targets at all - civilian facilities were affected by
them", he noted.
Alexy II also pointed out that war operations in Iraq can adversely affect the
situation in the Middle East as a whole. "Many nationalities professing
different religions live in that region, and the interests of many states are
intertwined there", he stressed