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Iraq Wants Russia Role in Ending Sanctions against Iraq: Saddam
Iraq wants Russia to play its role in international affairs, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said here on Sunday.
Saddam made the remark during his meeting with Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who is to visit Moscow on April 18.
Saddam stressed the strong relations between Iraq and Russia and asked Ramadan to give his greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
Ramadan will hold talks with Russian officials during his visit to Moscow, possibly on Russian proposals for lifting the decade-old United Nations sanctions on Iraq.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on April 3 that Iraq and the U.N. could reach an agreement on lifting U.N. sanctions and resuming U.N. arms inspections.
The two sides could implement a practical plan specifying tasks and conditions for inspection missions, and the conduct of arms inspectors, the ministry said.
Putin delivered a letter to the Arab summit on March 27-28 in Amman, Jordan, outlining Russian proposals for putting an end to the sanctions.
However, Ramadan on Saturday reiterated Iraq's rejection of the U.N. arms inspections and ruled out international mediation to bring U.N. inspectors back into the country.
Ramadan insisted that the inspection mission was over and accused the arms inspectors of being "spies."
He also demanded that the U.N. completely lift the sanctions imposed on Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
The sanctions will not be lifted until U.N. arms inspectors certify that Iraq is free of weapons of mass destruction.
Ramadan said that Iraq has fully cooperated with the U.N. and has destroyed all its weapons of mass destruction, and therefore the sanctions should be terminated.
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