Assault on the Serbs: Mortar attack bid on US embassy rocks Moscow

SIMMERING PUBLIC fury over Nato's bombing of Yugoslavia erupted into the open in Moscow yesterday when a gunman tried to fire a rocket- propelled grenade at the American embassy, before spraying the building with a machine-gun.

The early afternoon attack took place in the full view of hundreds of police, security officers and journalists who were covering a demonstration outside the embassy - one of many weekend protests over the air strikes throughout cities in Europe and beyond.

The Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, ordered the Interior Minister, Sergei Stepashin, to launch an inquiry into the assault, which occurred when a man in camouflage and a ski-mask drove up to the building in a stolen car and prepared to shell it with a grenade launcher.

When police started to fire, he dropped the weapon, leapt into his vehicle, and unleashed two blasts from a semi-automatic weapon as he sped off. Onlookers dived for safety; no one was hurt. Three men were later arrested.

The incident is the most graphic example so far of the wrath sweeping Russia as Nato bombers continue their daily assaults on their Serb Orthodox co-religionists. However, the sentiment stems less from empathy for Russia's Slavic neighbour than from anger at Nato and a sense of humiliation about Russia's inability to prevent the bombardment - for example, through the United Nations.

The outcry has brought rare unanimity across Russia's usually deeply divided political spectrum. Nationalists and Communists share common ground with depleted ranks of free marketeers and so-called liberals, and the pragmatic government of Yevgeny Primakov.

The most flamboyant nationalist leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky - frequently covertly used by the government as a lightening rod for popular anger - has taken to wearing military uniform, while his party, the LDPR, signs up young male recruits for the Kosovo war zone.

It is too soon to predict the long-term price of Nato's strategy, but the dangers are clear. There are parliamentary and presidential elections within 15 months. The West's handling of the Kosovo crisis has clearly benefited the far right, at least for now.

The democratic camp yesterday attempted to recover some ground. With guarded support from the Kremlin, three of their leading lights, former prime minister Yegor Gaidar, and ex-ministers Boris Nemtsov and Boris Fyodorov, went to Belgrade to meet the United States envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in the hope of getting a peace dialogue going.

The greatest immediate danger is the Russian army, which feels affronted and betrayed. Nato's repeated claims to be an essentially defensive organisation, which has moved beyond the Cold War, have been proved empty in their eyes. There is a real risk it will be the source of unauthorised arms shipments to the Serbs.

Russia's sentiments are shared by others elsewhere. Thousands of protesters, many of them drawn from the large Serb diaspora, took to the streets around the world to vent their anger at the Nato attacks and, in particular, at the United States.

In Germany, which took part in the Nato operation, thousands of Serbs marched through Stuttgart, chanting anti-American slogans. There was a similar protest in Nuremberg. In Norway, several hundred demonstrators, mainly Serbs, pounded the US embassy in Oslo with eggs, and flourished banners which read "Clinton Equals Hitler". In New York, hundreds of Serbs and Albanians faced off in downtown Manhattan, bellowing slogans at one another. In Rome, protesters clashed with police after hurling bottles, fruit and rubbish, while several hundred people marched on the Aviano air base in northern Italy, where many Nato aircraft are based. More than 4,000 protesters gathered in front of the US embassy in Vienna, shouting "Viva Serbia", singing Serb battle songs, and lobbing eggs and tomatoes at police.

In Sydney, riot police were deployed after an estimated 7,000 demonstrators hurled objects at police, setting off fireworks and smashing store windows. In Melbourne, some 2,000 pro-Serb protesters gathered outside the US consulate-general to protest, and hurl eggs.