Russia moved yesterday to defend its billion-dollar business interests in Iraq, warning Washington that it would not be squeezed out of any post-war commercial carve-up in the oil-rich Gulf state,writes Daniel McLaughlin in Moscow.
Calling the US-led assault on Iraq a "military occupation", Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Yuri Fedotov said Moscow would fight tooth-and-nail for the interests of Russian firms in Iraq, where they have signed an estimated $4 billion worth of deals to develop the world's second-largest oil reserves.
"Our companies have solid positions in Iraq," Mr Fedotov told the Vremya Novostei newspaper. "And we will make sure these positions are preserved."
He also insisted that Washington could not push through any unilateral changes to the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq, under which Russian firms have made billions of dollars over more than a decade of sanctions against President Saddam Hussein's regime.
"They just can't do it. It is a humanitarian programme of the UN," Mr Fedotov said, adding that Russia would demand compensation for any Russian firms which suffer because of war against Iraq, which owes Moscow some $8 billion.
The Interfax news agency yesterday quoted the US ambassador to Moscow as saying the future Baghdad government would make all long-term decisions on energy contracts in Iraq, and that Washington could not guarantee Russian involvement.