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Russia ‘Sold’ UN Iraq Vote For Oil & Debt: Press
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Putin was keen to get the issue solved before talks with Bush
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MOSCOW,
May 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Russia dropped its
opposition to a UN resolution lifting sanctions on Iraq once it
believed its Soviet-era debt and massive oil contracts in the country
would be respected, the Russian press said Friday, May 23.
"Russia
'sold' its vote in exchange for the respect of contracts and
debt," the Izvestia daily said, quoted by Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
After
weeks of opposition to the U.S.-sponsored resolution, Russia voted in
favor Thursday of lifting the 13-year-old sanctions on Iraq,
effectively handing over temporary control of Iraq's oil revenues to
the United States and its allies through an internationally-audited
Development Fund.
"U.S.
concessions made to the anti-war coalition do not change the substance
of things, but help save face for those who extolled the key role of
the UN," Izvestia said.
The
daily said a key point in winning Russia's approval was the U.S.
concession to reschedule Iraq's debt - including eight billion dollars
(6.8 billion euros) owed to Moscow - through the Paris Club.
In
a clear gesture towards Moscow, Powell – a week ago in the Russian
capital - said that the future Iraqi administration would "take
fully into account" its eight billion dollar (seven billion euro)
debt obligations to Russia.
A
senior Pentagon official provoked anger in Moscow last month by
suggesting that France, Germany and Russia could help Iraq by writing
off its debts.
With
substantial oil interests in Iraq, Russia has been anxious to secure
UN involvement in Iraq to prevent the United States from taking full
control of Baghdad's oil riches until it hands over power to an Iraqi
administration.
However,
the resolution effectively establishes a moratorium on the debt by
declaring Iraq's oil revenues immune from legal proceedings until
December 31, 2007.
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Powell (L) and Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov
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And
the resolution did not put a deadline on relinquishing U.S.-British
control of the country, merely scheduling a review in 12 months and
the promise that an internationally recognized government would
eventually be set up by the Iraqi people.
Yet,
the pro-Kremlin Vremya Novostei daily declared in a headline
that "everyone won in Iraq" - sanctions were lifted while
the United Nations won a role in post-war Iraq.
"The
United States and Britain stayed in Iraq, controlling its oil
resources. The anti-war coalition (France, Germany and Russia) were
left with an unsullied reputation and the promise that its interests
will be taken into account," Vremya Novostei said.
The
daily added that Russian President Vladimir Putin was keen to get the
contentious issue solved before talks with his U.S. counterpart George
W. Bush in Saint Petersburg later this month.
And
it praised the new resolution for extending the UN's oil-for-food
program for six months to ensure the delivery of priority civilian
goods.
An
original proposal to phase out the plan in four months would likely
have led to the collapse of two billion dollars in contracts Russia
holds to supply Iraq with trucks and oil industry spare parts.
The
liberal Kommersant business daily charged that two billion
dollars is "kopeks for full and unconditional capitulation on the
Iraqi question."
The
newspaper accused the Russian leadership of abandoning its principles
in voting for the resolution, abandoning its demand that UN weapons
inspectors return to the country to ensure it is free of weapons of
mass destruction before lifting sanctions.
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