The Hindu : Ensure Russian Embassy safety, U.S told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 14, 2003

International

International

Ensure Russian Embassy safety, U.S told

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW JULY 13. A row has broken out between Moscow and Washington over Russia's decision to send its diplomats back to Iraq, with the Russian Foreign Ministry protesting the U.S. refusal to guarantee the safety of Russian diplomats.

The Foreign Ministry issued a spate of angry statements over the weekend after the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, said Washington did not consider the Russian embassy in Iraq a diplomatic mission because there was no Iraqi Government at this stage and could not accept responsibility for the Russian staff's safety. Moscow argued that the U.S. stand contravened the 1961 Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations and demanded that its mission in Baghdad be given full diplomatic recognition. "We expect the U.S. to consider with full attention our repeated requests to ensure the normal and safe functioning of the Russian embassy in Baghdad," an official statement said.

A group of Russian diplomats returned to Baghdad last month "to ensure our presence in the country but also to provide assistance to Russian firms returning to the Iraqi market," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow does not view its vehement opposition to the war in Iraq as a legitimate ground for cancellation of lucrative oil contracts Russian companies had signed with the government of Saddam Hussein.

Russia had kept a skeleton embassy staff in Baghdad throughout the U.S.-led war on Iraq and evacuated it shortly before the allied troops captured the Iraqi capital. When the Russian diplomatic convoy was fleeing Baghdad, it came under massive U.S. fire.

The Russian Ambassador, Vladimir Titorenko, who was wounded in the incident along with two other staff, accused the U.S. troops of deliberate shooting.

Moscow has also objected to the U.S. ambassador's suggestion that Russia could help America track down the fugitive Iraqi leader, his family and associates. In a statement issued today, the Russian Foreign Ministry described the ambassador's remarks as `improper.'

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