Interview to RIA-Novosti


Your Eminence, the situation around Iraq attracts the attention of millions of people around the world. The subject does not leave the front pages of newspapers for several months now. What is your vision of the problem? What do you think are the acceptable ways to overcome the crisis?

The situation around Iraq is a knot of ideological, ethnic, political and economic differences, all of them many decades old. There is this temptation to cut the knot with a single blow. That, however, won’t help us solve the problem.

We share the world’s anxiety about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The present day, however, shifted the accents in the field of armed confrontation. We all of us remember that the weapons employed by the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Centre were not nuclear warheads of chemical/bacteriological weapons but the controls of passenger jets.

I am firmly convinced that the only way to overcome the danger of proliferation of WMD is to employ peaceful diplomatic means - in accordance with international law and decisions of the United Nations Security Council.

It is also important to avoid double standards. For instance, why some countries that are not members of the Nuclear Five but possess nuclear weapons either officially or semi-officially are supported by the USA, while Iraq, who is only ‘under suspicion,’ suffered many years of economic blockade and sanctions, which pose a threat even to the life and well-being of innocent children?

What do you think might be the consequences of a US-British military campaign against Iraq?

Historical experience shows that it is often easy to unleash war but extremely difficult to put an end to it. As for the consequences of war, they are impossible to foresee. This goes for a complex region like the Middle East too.

Armed conflict can bring a lot of suffering to the civilian population even in the case of so-called pinpoint strikes. Recent bombings of Yugoslavia by NATO forces only confirmed the seriousness of the threat. After all, modern weapons, which formally are not weapons of mass destruction, are very close to WMD where destructive effect is concerned.

Military action will only further aggravate the economic situation in Iraq, which is bad enough as it is, push the country into a state of poverty, and subject Iranians to a national humiliation of the kind that provokes conflicts and intolerance. In this case, peaceful and just life in the Middle East will only be possible in the far future.

Consequences of the war will sweep across the world and rock the economic systems of dozens of countries. It is generally known that these systems are sensitive to oil prices fluctuations, which will inevitably follow the beginning of military action.

The possibility of a military strike against Iraq already provokes a negative reaction in the Arab world. It will only get worse if full-scale military action begins. The whole situation may result in an outburst of violence, which will spread outside the boundaries of Arab countries. Transparency of the borders makes it possible for desperate people to ‘project force’ on any other country, maybe even on one that is powerful from the economic and military points of view.

Surely the possibility of a military operation against Iraq affects the feelings of believers of all faiths. How did believers in Russia and abroad react to the threat of a military operation?

The Orthodox Church urges the parties concerned to resolve all conflicts by means of searching for a mutually acceptable solution, and reminds them that war, even if it is victorious for the government, is always a defeat for the families of soldiers killed in action.

Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew, who shares the view of American and British opponents of war, has announced that it is fraught with catastrophic consequences for the region of the Persian Gulf and poses a threat to security and stability throughout the world. Hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate, too, sided with the idea of solving the Iraqi crisis by peaceful means. Bishop Mercury, who heads the patriarchal parishes in the USA, signed the appeal of Orthodox bishops, the clergy and the laity of North America not to unleash a military campaign against Iraq.

American Catholics, who said preventive strikes against Iraq were inadmissible, were joined by representatives of other Christian faiths. The Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and many Protestant denominations all furiously rejected the military scenario of events. The Archbishop of Canterbury, too, appealed to the parties concerned to solve the Iraqi crisis by peaceful means. Moslem and Judaic communities in Europe and the United States, too, opposed the war idea.

Such unanimity of opinions was no surprise, for all people of good will believe relations between peoples must be directed towards peace, mutual help and cooperation.

To sum it all up, I would like to say I hope the appeals of religious people of the world will be heard and we will be able to avoid military action.