Russia denies troops-to-Iraq deal with USA, poll shows public against
Source: Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow, in Russian 0900 gmt 20 Jul 04
[Presenter] Russia could send 40,000 of its servicemen to Iraq. And it could happen as soon as this autumn, the Izvestiya newspaper reports today, citing the American analysis agency (Stratfor). According to Izvestiya, this agency very rarely gets its predictions wrong and it says that Washington has asked Moscow to send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. It also reports that Vladimir Putin has agreed in principle, and has instructed the General Staff to draw up a plan of action which should be submitted for approval in late July.
According to the agency, Moscow's interest is that if it decides to go ahead, the USA will extend some economic perks to Russia. This means in particular Russian oil companies returning to Iraq and also the USA lifting obstacles in the way of Russia joining the World Trade Organization.
Meanwhile, Russia has no political or military need to send its military units to Iraq, the director of the Moscow office of the Centre for Defence Information, Ivan Safranchuk, told our radio station.
[Safranchuk] The issue could have been seriously considered a year ago, when the military operation in Iraq had just been successfully concluded and additional units from the USA's allies and friends were needed to restore order in Iraq. But now, when various countries are pulling out of Iraq one after the other, it would be a bit odd for Russia to do the opposite and send troops there. If we put to one side the political motives and leave just the military motives, I still think that Russia has no need to send its own forces to Iraq. It might be better for Russia to involve itself in Iraq through military advisors and specialists, who could help the anti-Saddam coalition.
[Presenter] That was the director of the Moscow office of the Centre for Defence Information, Ivan Safranchuk. Nonetheless, should Russia send its troops to Iraq, do we need to do this and is it in our interests? What do Muscovites think? Our correspondent Yuliya Kasilova has been finding out.
[Correspondent] It's rare for respondents to be unanimous. They usually come up with various points of view. Today's poll showed that exceptions, although rare, do exist. Civil servant Sergey Vasilyevich is 40 years old and an opponent of military action. Especially if Russia is involved.
[Man] We don't need to go to war against anyone. Who wants to fight? No need. We need to get on with our own lives and only then fight if we need to defend our country.
[Correspondent] His convictions are so strong that he wouldn't agree to Russia getting involved in a war even in exchange for Iraqi oil.
[Man] We've got enough of our own, we're swimming in the stuff. We've got cheap petrol prices, and they'd only go up. And it's early yet for us to join the WTO, in my opinion. If we do join the WTO unemployment would only go up and imports would undercut us.
[Passage omitted]
[Correspondent] In our poll, not one respondent wanted to see Russia taking part in military action. Not for any amount of money, they said. Even if the money comes as oil.
[Presenter] As some of our respondents said philosophically, a bad peace is better than a good war.
In the interests of fairness, we should point out that the Russian Foreign Ministry has denied the reports that our servicemen could be posted to Iraq. An official spokesman, Boris Malakhov, said this:
[Malakhov] Reports in the American media about Moscow and Washington supposedly being in talks to send Russian servicemen to Iraq in exchange for economic concessions are untrue. There are no plans to send Russian servicemen to Iraq.
