MOSCOW. Nov 2 (Interfax) - Russia opposes attempts to politicize the investigation by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon of the 2005 assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
"It's important to avoid actions that might destabilize the situation in the country, including all sorts of assumptions injected by the media prior to the verdict which must be based on objective and thoroughly verified facts," the Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokesman Andrei Nesterenko announced Monday, commenting on political tension in Lebanon over the tribunal.
"From the very start, Russia has been calling for an honest and fair investigation of ex-Prime Minister Hariri's murder, for finding and punishing its perpetrators," the diplomat said.
"Our position remains unchanged," he added.
Russia has always assumed that Hariri's case must probed thoroughly and impartially and that it must not be politicized Nesterenko said.
That is the only way to achieve the ultimate goal of ensuring justice and promoting Lebanon's sovereign and democratic development amid civil peace and internal accord, which the tribunal was designed to assist, he said.
There's been a surge of political tension in Lebanon lately over the attitude to the Special Tribunal. A few days ago, two international investigators and a female interpreter were attacked by a group of Lebanese women during a visit to a clinic in a southern suburb of Beirut.
An inquiry has been launched.
Earlier, the Hezbollah leader urged Lebanese officials and ordinary citizens to boycott the tribunal's investigators and refuse to cooperate with them.
Rafiq Hariri was killed in a bomb attack on his motorcade in Beirut on February 15, 2005, along with 20 other people. Pro-Western Lebanese parties pointed at Syria but the latter denied involvement.