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| International |
| Russian FM: US trying to step on Russia’s economic interests in Iraq |
| 2003-03-22 |
| 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 |
| #5 This is the key to understanding this whole mess. This is what connects the dots of all articles here on Rantburg today. The war is illegal, their contracts are still good - worse, if they can exile him (assuming his still alive) then they will claim US occupation of Iraq is meaningless and any thing we try to do is null and void. I suspect this is the "better deal" that was offered to Turkey and why they stalled and then screwed us. These backstabbers probably had been working out a deal to take advantage of this tactic long before the war had begun. |
| Posted by: becky 2003-03-22 12:24:07 |
| #4 "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." Would have been refreshing to hear Igor put this statement on the official record at UN -- anytime in past six months. Oops, did I place "candor" and the "UN" in same sentence? Silly me. |
| Posted by: Govy 2003-03-22 11:37:39 |
| #3 All Russia had to do was some mild public protest of the US actions and quietly take a percentage of the $9bn owed as the Iraqi bad debt from the US and everything would be cool. Putin blew it big time. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-03-22 11:22:19 |
| #2 re: contracts and debts I presume that both russian and french (languages) have a past tense. dorf |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-03-22 10:42:28 |
| #1 This is the key to understanding this whole mess. This is what connects the dots of all articles here on Rantburg today. The war is illegal, their contracts are still good - worse, if they can exile him (assuming his still alive) then they will claim US occupation of Iraq is meaningless and any thing we try to do is null and void. I suspect this is the "better deal" that was offered to Turkey and why they stalled and then screwed us. These backstabbers probably had been working out a deal to take advantage of this tactic long before the war had begun. |
| Posted by: becky 3/22/2003 12:24:07 PM |