OSCOW, Oct. 3 — As the Bush administration lobbies Russia and other veto-bearing members of the Security Council to agree to a new resolution on Iraq, a delegation of Iraqi officials visited Moscow to appeal to business people and officials to resist the pressure.
The six-member Iraqi delegation, which arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, included a deputy oil minister, deputy minister of industry and natural resources and the head of a state organization called the Society of Friendship, Peace and Solidarity With Foreign Countries.
Advertisement
| |
|
The group made a presentation before a gathering of more than 100 Russian business people, parliamentary deputies and Foreign Ministry officials, listing the benefits for Russia by cooperating with Iraq.
The Kremlin has yet to express publicly its thinking on a new Security Council resolution. While there is little enthusiasm here for the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader, economic ties with Iraq run deep, and leaders are hesitant to agree to the American request before receiving assurances that Russian interests will be protected.
Mikhail V. Margelov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of Russia's Parliament and akey adviser to President Vladimir V. Putin, was in Washington today laying out Russia's position to American Congressional leaders.
"We want our American partners to know that we have strong economic interests in Iraq, especially in oil fields," Mr. Margelov said in a telephone interview from Washington tonight, "and these interests should be protected.
"It's not an issue of one side trying to convince the other to surrender — we can agree to disagree," Mr. Margelov said, adding that he was in Washington strictly as a Russian senator, and had not spoken to Mr. Putin in the past several weeks.
Bush administration officials expressed hope today that Russia would support the new Security Council resolution. Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary, said that although Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin had not spoken since last month, conversations between Russia and the United States were continuing "through other diplomatic levels" at the State Department and the United Nations.
It was economic ties that Iraqi officials emphasized today in Moscow, promoting an economic cooperation program that would set aside $40 billion in business for Russian companies. Most here say the program is simply being used as a negotiating tactic in the diplomatic match to win Russia's support, and does not represent real contracts.
Oil is at the center of economic cooperation between Iraq and Russia. Baghdad gives Russian companies the single largest share of its oil quotas — 40 percent — under a United Nations-imposed program that allows Iraq to sell oil to earn money to buy food and other essentials.
The Iraqi delegation had its share of supporters in the audience. Yuri K. Shafranik, a former energy minister who heads the Russian Solidarity With Iraq Committee, urged a public display of support for Iraq, and a stand against any new Security Council resolution.
"They are waiting for our position," said Mr. Shafranik, referring to Arab countries. "It can either be one of — excuse the bad word — prostitution, or a solid and serious one."
But a surprising number of the participants at the meeting, which was held at a large central Moscow hotel that in Soviet days was reserved for government elite, expressed doubts.
While Russian parliamentary and business leaders condemned what they saw as American unilateralism, many concluded that Moscow would not be able to stand in the way of American military action, and instead focused on protecting Russia's interests.
Irina M. Khakamada, a member of Parliament from the Union of Right Forces, a pro-business party, said that Russia should support a new resolution, but that any military action must be approved by the Security Council separately.
"We must understand that the worsening of relations with the United States does not correspond with Russia's national interests," said Ms. Khakamada. "It's very important that proponents of Russia's new foreign policy direction of reaching to the West not use the situation of Iraq to turn away."