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Russia against lifting UN sanctions on Iraq: source
Thu Apr 17, 8:16 AM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia will not support a US proposal to lift UN sanctions on Iraq (news - web sites) if UN inspectors do not confirm the country has no weapons of mass destruction, a Russian foreign ministry official said.
"Regime change in Baghdad is not a condition for lifting economic sanctions on Iraq," the official told the Interfax news agency on condition of anonymity.
"There is a UN Security Council resolution for this, which clearly stipulates the disarmament of Iraq -- something international inspectors must decide," he said, adding that Russia supported the return of UN inspectors.
US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said Wednesday he would soon propose a UN resolution ending the 12-year-old crippling economic sanctions, which put an embargo on the trade of Iraqi oil.
Russia -- a fierce opponent to the US-led war that earlier cast doubt on US accusations that Iraq possessed biological, chemical or nuclear weapons -- fears opening the floodgates of Iraqi oil could hurt its own economy, which is heavily reliant on oil exports.
It has called for the United Nations (news - web sites) to play a central role in the reconstruction of post-war Iraq, also fearing lucrative contracts could end up in the hands of the US-led coalition that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
Dmitry Rogozin, head of parliament's foreign affairs committee, said the US announcement that it favored lifting sanctions less than one week after the fall of Baghdad and Saddam's regime seemed "wrong" and "mercenary."
"We should determine just what the United State is after -- something seem wrong, the approach is too mercenary," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
"Today the United Nations controls practically nothing in Iraq, so the sanctions will actually be lifted not from Russian companies -- which should be working in the region -- but from Americans, who will be given the juciest parts of the Iraqi oil industry," he said.
The United Nations imposed sweeping sanctions on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. They included a ban on all trade with Iraq, an embargo on its oil exports and an arms embargo.
Bush also called for an end to the UN-administered "oil-for-food" program, which since 1996 has enabled Iraq to export limited amounts of oil and use the revenues to buy basic humanitarian supplies.
It's just plain ghastly. What kind of sick country is willing to murder children to protect its oil oligarchs?
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