Russia will be denied participation in restoring Iraq

A final decision on the participation of Russia and some other countries in the economic rehabilitation of Iraq will be taken by new Iraqi authorities in Baghdad, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshiar Zibari said on Thursday in Doha, the capital of Qatar. He is touring Persian Gulf countries.

Speaking of Washington's intention to deprive Russia, China, France, Germany and Canada of the right to take an active part in the process of restoring Iraq, Zibari emphasized that a final decision on this question is the prerogative of Iraq's provisional governing council, or PGC.

The PGC, Zibari said, is ready to review this decision "if these countries change their attitude to the Iraqi issue." And this despite the fact, according to the minister, that "on the one hand, they did not show readiness to extend a helping hand to the Iraqi people and, on the other, maintained friendly relations with the criminal regime of Saddam Hussein".