US Ambassador: US Has No Plans to Exclude Russia from Iraq

The US leadership is not taking any steps to exclude Russian from the post-war rebuilding of Iraq, according to US Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow. At a press conference on the 'Post-war settlement in Iraq', the ambassador said that the issue of contracts already signed between Iraq and Russia would be resolved 'separately' after serious analysis and in line with international law. Vershbow did not exclude that 'many of the contracts will remain in force.' He also stressed that it was in Russia's interests to establish good relations with the new Iraqi government.