Moscow: The First Report of Baghdad on Chemical Weapons Evidences More Active Coopeation

Moscow is of the opinion that the first 25-page report provided by Baghdad on chemical weapons testifies to an enhanced cooperation between Iraq and the inspectors.

When answering journalists' questions on Saturday official spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry Aleksander Yakovenko stated that it was another evidence of more active cooperation of Baghdad with the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Yakovenko stressed that "that is why the Russian Federation has insisted on continuation of inspections in Iraq." On Friday night, UN inspectors reported that Iraq presented the first out of the two reports on chemical weapons. The report stated that in 1991 the Iraqi side buried all its stock of nerve VX gas on the outskirts of Baghdad. UN experts thought that it would not be difficult to identify the existence of such substances in the soil.

Iraq has promised to present the second report on reserves of anthrax in the near future.

On Friday night, Iraqi ambassador in UN Mohammed Alduri stated that the presented 25-page report contained "weighty proof of the fact that Iraq no longer possessed reserves of nerve gas" and expressed hope that Baghdad would be able to convince the UNMOVIC of that.