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Russia, Turkmenistan Urge US to Observe International Law in Military Retaliation
Russia and Turkmenistan on September 21 urged the United States to abide by international law in its military response to last week's terror attacks.
The call was made at a meeting between Russian Secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Rushailo and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital.
"Russia and Turkmenistan are unanimous in the opinion that this action must be carried out in full conformity with international law," Rushailo told reporters after the meeting.
The two sides also agreed that any action against terrorism should have a clear target and should not harm innocent people or cause regional turmoil, Rushailo said quoted by Interfax and ITAR- TASS news agencies.
At the joint press conference, Niyazov stressed that the US strikes on terrorism should be "under U.N. sanction."
During their meeting, Rushailo and Niyazov also discussed the consequences of the planned US strikes and exchanged views on regional security.
Rushailo arrived in Turkmenistan after his visit to Tajikistan. He was sent by Russian President Vladimir Putin on a tour of consultations with Central Asian leaders, prior to a US retaliatory military operation against Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia.
The US administration has repeatedly demanded the Afghan Taliban regime turn over Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, who was listed by the US as a chief suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington. But the call was brushed off by the Taliban, which instead asked bin Laden to leave Afghanistan "whenever possible."
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