RUSSIA: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV WARNS U.S. NOT TO ATTACK IRAQ AFTER MEETING WITH IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER NAJI SABRI.

Record ID: 208487

  • Title: RUSSIA: RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV WARNS U.S. NOT TO ATTACK IRAQ AFTER MEETING WITH IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER NAJI SABRI.
  • Date: 3rd September 2002
  • Summary: (EUROPE) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 02, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/PAN: IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER NAJI SABRI AND RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV ENTER ROOM 0.09 2. MV/GV: IRAQI AND RUSSIAN DELEGATIONS SIT AT TABLE FOR TALKS (3 SHOTS) 0.32 3. GV: IVANOV AND SABRI ENTER PRESS ROOM. MEDIA (2 SHOTS) 0.50 4. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IGOR IVANOV, SAYING: "We, of course, analyse all the announcements coming from Washington that there is no alternative to military action. But we were unable to find one single well-founded argument that Iraq represents a threat to the national security of the United States. These announcements are politically motivated." 1.35 5. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER NAJI SABRI, SAYING: "Iraq believes that the return of international inspectors and the resumption of their activities should be done on the basis of United Nations resolutions." 1.50 6. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) IVANOV, SAYING: "We have repeatedly emphasised that any decision to use force against Iraq would not only complicate an Iraqi settlement, but would also seriously undermine the already complicated situation in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East." 2.14 7. GV: IVANOV AND SABRI LEAVE 2.23 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA6SASGHSA6RYBYWNEZBL6PUFRF
  • Story Text: Russia has warned the United States not to use force
    against Iraq saying it would undermine stability in the region
    and complicate the chances of settling the Iraqi issue.



    Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov made the warning
    after meeting with his Iraqi counterpart Naji Sabri on Monday
    (September 2).

    Sabri was visiting Russia, a permanent member of the U.N.

    Security Council, as part of Baghdad's concerted efforts to
    fend off U.S. threats of attack. Washington accuses Baghdad of
    trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

    Sabri visited China last week and Iraqi Vice-President
    Taha Yassin Ramadan toured Syria and Lebanon.

    Ivanov said Russia could not see "a single well-founded
    argument that Iraq represents a threat to U.S. national
    security" and disagreed with suggestions by senior officials
    in Washington that there was no alternative to a military
    solution.

    Moscow has strongly backed Washington's "war on
    terrorism", launched after last September's hijacked airliner
    attacks on the United States, but has rejected U.S. talk of an
    "axis of evil" of states bent on obtaining weapons of mass
    destruction.

    Russia enjoys good ties with Iraq dating from Soviet times
    and has long called for the return of inspectors to deflate
    pressure for U.S. military action and allow for the lifting of
    U.N. sanctions, first imposed when Iraq invaded Kuwait in
    1990.

    U.N. arms experts left Iraq in December 1998 ahead of a
    U.S.-British bombing campaign to punish Baghdad for its
    alleged failure to cooperate with inspectors.

    Washington has used Iraq's alleged possession of chemical,
    biological and possibly nuclear weapons to underpin President
    George W. Bush's campaign for a "regime change" -- a euphemism
    for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

    Ivanov had urged Iraq at the start of the talks to pursue
    talks with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to facilitate the
    return of the inspectors and the eventual lifting of
    sanctions.

    Ivanov also praised the "dynamic development" of relations
    between Russia and Iraq.

    "Iraq believes that the return of international
    inspectors and the resumption of their activities should be
    done on the basis of United Nations resolutions," Sabri said.

    He made no mention in his opening remarks of a
    cooperation programme which Baghdad's ambassador last month
    said was close to signature and worth $40 billion.

    In Johannesburg, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz
    told Reuters that the return of the inspectors was "still
    under consideration". On Sunday (September 1) , he told CNN
    that the return of the monitors under chief U.N. inspector
    Hans Blix was not an option.

    Wider rifts appeared in U.S. public opinion at the weekend
    over any possible attack, with Secretary of State Colin Powell
    suggesting the return of the inspectors was a critical step,
    in contrast with Vice-President Dick Cheney. Several
    commentators were quick to point out the contradictions.

    Russian opposition to any attack on Iraq is seen linked in
    part to efforts to recover billions of dollars in debts run up
    by Iraq during the Soviet era. It also hopes its oil firms
    will secure lucrative pumping contracts when sanctions are
    lifted.

    Sabri is due in Cairo in Egypt after Moscow to lead his
    country's delegation at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers
    starting there on Wednesday (September 3), an Iraqi Foreign
    Ministry source told Reuters.


    jm/

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