West criticizes China mildly; Russia offers support

By Kevin Liffey

LONDON (Reuters) - Western countries offered limited criticism on Monday of China's crackdown on separatist unrest in Tibet, while Russia urged its ally to do whatever it had to to "curtail unlawful actions".

The governor of Tibet said no guns had been used against protesters in Lhasa, the regional capital, and that 13 "innocent civilians" had been killed when days of anti-Chinese protests broadened into riots and looting on Friday.

Exiled representatives of Tibet have put the death toll from the protests at 80.

On Monday, troops poured into neighboring areas to enforce control as a midnight deadline neared for protesters to give up.

"Everybody is very concerned about the violence. The Chinese really need to exercise restraint," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters on her plane on her way to Moscow.

"We have really urged the Chinese over several years to find a way to talk with the Dalai Lama, who is a figure of authority, who is not a separatist, and to find a way to engage him and to bring his moral weight to a more sustainable and better solution of the Tibet issue."

Australia, Great Britain, the European Union, and the United Nations echoed the U.S. calls for restraint.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "increasingly concerned" about reports of violence and loss of life in Tibet.