Russia opposes air strikes in Libya

Russia has come out as one of the fiercest opponents to the ongoing military intervention in Libya.

“Our position in this matter is well-known – we are for the inadmissibility of violence in Libya, as in other countries, and for the situation’s return to the political channel,” foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said this weekend. “We call on countries involved to stop the non-selective use of force.”

As awkwardly phrased as it might be, the statement maintains a calm logic. Russia has always been against Western military involvement – be it in the ex-Yugoslavia or Iraq. There are no shades of gray.

Russian state-run TV has been less levelheaded. Take a look at the broadcast below, from a weekly news round-up show. Even if you don’t understand Russian, the scary music alone reveals much about what’s going on.

First, the anchor notes that the military action was launched by “Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama and famous peacekeeper Nicolas Sarkozy” (Sarkozy led peace deal efforts in Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia over South Ossetia). Switch to the reporter’s voice: “In order to understand, in the midst of total disinformation, what is actually going on right now in Libya, it’s enough to simply call things by their names: aggression by the great world powers against the sovereign country started with approval from the UN.” The reporter notes Gaddafi’s “to put it lightly, extravagant leadership” but says that wasn’t the real reason for Western intervention: “Gaddafi’s rejection of a deal with France to deliver modern arms and it’s desire not to privatize its oil industry – that’s what can be behind such a sudden war.” It warns that civilian causalities as a result of military intervention will be much higher than Gaddafi’s own aggression against his people (while images of hospital patients – and it’s by no means clear whether they are in fact victims of the bombing or of Gaddafi’s own actions). Images of CNN and other international news channels flood the screen as Russia warns of the West’s total propaganda war. Finally, the report directly links the current turn of events in Libya to Western intervention in Serbia and Kosovo – something Russia was also sternly against.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is currently in Russia on a planned visit and expected to meet President Dmitry Medvedev tomorrow. Watch this space.