Russia and China react with anger

Russia and China both expressed strong opposition to the NATO attacks.

Russia and China both expressed strong opposition to the NATO attacks.

President Yeltsin was said to be "profoundly outraged" over the air raids and has decided to revise Moscow's relations with the military alliance, a Kremlin official told the Interfax news agency.

Russia recalled its military representative to NATO from Brussels following the attacks and also suspended talks on opening a NATO office in Moscow, Gen Leonid Ivashov, of the Defence Ministry, said.

President Yeltsin called on the UN Security Council to meet in an effort to halt the attacks.

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"As President and supreme commander, I have demanded an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to obtain an immediate halt to the air strikes," Mr Yeltsin said.

Russia, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, maintains that conflict-resolution is the responsibility of the top UN body and not NATO.

In Beijing, the Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan, said the attacks were "unacceptable" and warned of unspecified "serious consequences", the official Xinhua news agency said.

He expressed "grave concern" over the NATO decision to launch strikes late yesterday.

It was "unacceptable" for NATO to take such action without the backing of the UN Security Council, he was quoted as saying in Oslo, adding that the move was "opposed by the Chinese side".

"China advocates respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries and the rights to choose their own development road," he said.