Russia Culture Minister Proposes Establishing Monitoring Council to Preserve Iraq's Monuments of Culture

Russian Culture Minister Mikhail Shvydkoi has proposed to the Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization establishing a monitoring council that would involve known international experts to preserve monuments of culture in Iraq.

The letter, sent to UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, has come to hand of the Novosti news agency. It reads that the Russian Ministry of Culture "is gravely worried by the military operations Iraqi territory".

"Iraq is a country of great history and culture, which is rich in archaeological monuments of old Assyria and Babylonia," says Shvydkoi in the letter.