Russia "regrets" Uzbek victims, but puts blame on rebels

MOSCOW - Russia expressed "regret" Tuesday for the estimated hundreds of civilian victims in clashes with troops in Uzbekistan, but blamed Islamic rebels, not the government, for the deadly violence.
"To our profound regret, a great many completely innocent people died," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Izvestia daily.
It was Moscow's first expression of regret for the bloodshed in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan over the weekend, in which as many as 745 people may have been killed.
However, Lavrov steered clear of putting any of the blame on government troops and Uzbek President Islam Karimov's hardline government.
He said it was believed that Islamic fighters, including from the fundamentalist Taliban, had triggered the violence. "There is information that they tried to use (civilians) as a living shield, which is amoral," Lavrov said.
Lavrov also said that the unrest did not constitute a revolution.
His remarks contrasted with strong calls from the United States, Britain and the European Union for restraint by the Uzbek government.

05/17/2005 13:03 GMT