MOSCOW. April 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The United States endangers the lives of thousands of people trying to kill one dictator, Major General Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chairman of the defense committee in the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament, said on Monday.
"In order to destroy one dictator, the U.S. is bombing the whole country, killing hundreds of people and threatening the lives of 1,000 Iraqis," Bezborodov said at a meeting with cadets of the advanced military training institute under the Swedish Armed Forces Academy.
"Unfortunately, the principle of military force remains dominant in the global policy, which is confirmed by the events in Iraq. We think that the Iraqi problem is yet ahead. The problem is of humanitarian, ecology and religious natures," he said.
The meeting focused on changes in the international situation due to the events in Iraq, military development problems in Russia, and the situation in Chechnya.
Responding to questions of the guests, Bezborodov noted that the main aim of the military development in Russia is to adjust national military policy to new security challenges.
It seems like it will take a long time for Russia to determine the main spheres of the military reform. "It is not because Russia today is not a very rich country. The situation in the world is changing so quickly that our experts do not have enough time to determine the nature of the future war which should be matched by a new military organization of the country," the lawmaker said.
Analyzing the situation in Chechnya, he stressed that Russia has made a firm decision to solve the problem peacefully.
"The Defense Ministry was responsible for the situation in Chechnya in 2000, the Federal Security Service in 2001, and now the Russian president speaks about shifting the responsibility to Interior Ministry bodies, mainly Chechen police departments," Bezborodov noted.
According to him, "the referendum that was held in the republic is an obvious confirmation of the peaceful development of the situation in the republic."
At the end of the meeting Bezborodov thanked the Swedish officials for their help in the sphere of chemical weapons destruction.
"Russia aims at meeting its obligations in the sphere of chemical weapons destruction. But we cannot do without the help of the global community," Bezborodov noted.
The advanced military training Institute under the Swedish Armed Forces Academy trains officers that hold ranks of and over colonel, as well as high-ranking officials of civil administration, a spokesman for the Duma defense committee told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"Visits to Russia are traditional for cadets of the institute," the spokesman added.