Gorbachev Hits Firing on Libya

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev said today that the United States has shown an “imperial bandit face” in its armed clashes with Libya, and proposed opening talks on withdrawing all U.S. and Soviet warships from the Mediterranean.

Gorbachev spoke about Libya at a Kremlin banquet for Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid. The official press agency Tass carried the text of his speech.

In his speech, Gorbachev said the Soviet Union has to permanently base ships in the Mediterranean only because of the U.S. presence there.

He said the Soviets were prepared to open talks on withdrawal of Soviet and U.S. fleets from the Mediterranean.

The speech was Gorbachev’s first reported public comment on U.S.-Libyan clashes in the Mediterranean, although the Soviet media condemned the U.S. actions in earlier news reports and commentaries.

“The imperial bandit face of neoglobalist policy has become clearly visible in the past few days,” Gorbachev said. “The day before yesterday, American weapons were used against independent and sovereign Libya. Now, the U.S.A. is not stinting words to justify that act of aggression.”

Gorbachev said the United States had planned the “punitive operation” against Libya. He said the U.S. economic sanctions against Libya were “economic terror” that followed months of psychological and propaganda war against the North African country.