Diplomat's questioning of how Russia handled siege a 'misunderstanding'

FOREIGN Minister Brian Cowan yesterday stepped in to defend the Dutch EU presidency after a row with Russia over the hostage tragedy in Beslan.

All the EU's 25 members condemned the terrorist activity that led to the death of more than 350 people, mainly children, in the Russian republic of North Ossetia.

However Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot released a statement on Friday night that appeared to question the role of the Russian military in the tragedy.

It said: "All countries in the world need to work together to prevent tragedies like this. But we also would like to know from the Russian authorities how this tragedy could have happened."

The Russians reacted vehemently to the comments with a statement from the Foreign Ministry saying, "The inappropriate comments of the Dutch minister are, to say the least, odious, and for the large part deeply offensive."

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Levrov, described it as "insolent" and added he was bewildered and outraged.

The EU and Russia have clashed frequently over Moscow's handling of the Chechnya situation with Russia insisting the Muslim's population demand for independence is a purely domestic issue fuelled by terrorists.

As the charred bodies of school children were still being recovered from the school in Beslan, Mr Bot said there had been a misunderstanding and he would personally phone his Russian counterpart Mr Lavrov to explain what he had meant.

A Dutch foreign ministry spokesman also tried to explain Mr Bot's words.

"Because of the large number of casualties, in order to understand better what happened, he'd like information about what happened. He did not say the Russians did something wrong. The Russian government has taken this like a criticism, which was not the intention of the minister."

Mr Cowan, who handed over the EU foreign minister's chair to Mr Bot in July, said, "There was no criticism. We are not in a position to criticise and it would not be right.

"Something went out of control and the Russians had to respond to the awful tragedy that ensued.

"No one is rushing to judgment. The primary responsibility lay with the terrorists who kidnapped hundreds of people and kept them in appalling circumstances.

"Seeking to make the Russians culpable would not be a fair thing to do given the terrorists created the situation."

But however inadvertently the Dutch minister's remarks were, the controversy was fuelled yesterday by a growing number of statements from others questioning Russia's reaction to the tragedy.