Russia sold out Iraq for $700 million

The Security Council of the UN approved a new order for applying sanctions against Iraq. All 15 members of the Security Council, including Syria (which has recently been against it), voted for the new sanctions. The English-American alliance may celebrate its victory: Washington believes that the 300-page list of goods of dual purpose will cause Hussein’s regime to topple. Apparently, the goods that are not included on that list will be allowed for automatic import.

Iraqi ambassador Mohammed Aldouri said that this is more harassment of the Iraqi people. Regarding the question of whether or not Baghdad is going to stop crude exports, Aldouri stressed that it was a very serious issue that could be solved only on the level of the Iraqi government.

The sanctions were introduced against Iraq in 1990, when the country invaded Kuwait. Pursuant to the UN resolution, the embargo could not be lifted until arms inspectors are sure that Baghdad ceased its programs of chemical, biological, and nuclear arms. Regarding Russia’s position, everything is clear. It was not only Iraq that suffered from the introduction of sanctions, but also the countries that had contracts with Iraq. The sanction committee froze contracts to the sum of five billion dollars. Seventeen hundred million of that was Russia’s share, which is why Russia was putting much pressure on both the UN Security Council and the USA. Needless to say, this problem was lobbied by American producers that were interested in the issue. The current sanctions will allow Moscow to retrieve its money. What else do pragmatic governmental officials need?

Dmitry Chirkin PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov