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Russian FM: US trying to step on Russia’s economic interests in Iraq
Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov has accused the US of trying to step on Russia's economic interests in Iraq. He said Moscow would oppose any bid to give a US occupation of Iraq international legitimacy through the UN. He called an American request for countries to expel Iraqi diplomats as "strange", suggesting it was part of a US strategy to trample on existing oil contracts between Iraq and non-US companies."We will have to defend our interests so that the contracts which were signed under Saddam Hussein are not annulled as lacking legal force and to make sure the Iraqi debt owed us is respected," he said. Baghdad owes Moscow at least £4.5 billion in Soviet-era debt. The request to expel diplomats and freeze Iraqi assets was "not made by accident," Ivanov said. "In this way, they are saying that everything before today was illegal, all contracts signed before are illegal, and legality begins with the arrival of a new administration, even a temporary one." He catches on quick, don't he? Wonder how long it will take France to have a cow about this? Posted by: John Phares 2003-03-22 |
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