Alexei Kudrin: Iraq war will not affect Russia's economy

The war in Iraq "will not produce a direct negative impact on the Russian economy", Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Friday.

Appearing at a press conference in the Paris headquarters of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, he noted "the Russian economy's dependence on world oil prices". A series of financial policy measures has been worked out in recent years to "reduce this dependence and the negative impact of the world oil prices fluctuations on the Russian economy", said Kudrin.

"The financial reserves accumulated since last year" and a mechanism of additional financial reserves created this year have "substantially reduced the risks". This is why the Iraq war and relative oil price fluctuations will not produce a "direct negative impact" on the economy of Russia.

"We have managed to retain trust in the Russian economy", stressed the vice-premier.