January 17, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 2, 1422

MOSCOW, Jan 16: Russia will try to pressure Baghdad into allowing UN weapons inspectors to return to Iraq when Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz visits Moscow later this month, Interfax news agency said on Wednesday.

The agency quoted sources in Russia’s Foreign Ministry as saying Aziz was due to arrive in Moscow after Jan 20 for talks on easing international sanctions on Iraq in exchange for Baghdad’s cooperation with the United Nations. Both the Foreign Ministry and the Iraqi embassy in Moscow declined to comment on the report.

US President George W. Bush last month warned Iraq’s President Saddam Hussein that he would face consequences if UN inspectors were not allowed to return to Baghdad, triggering speculation that Iraq might be the next target of US forces.

US Senator Joseph Lieberman said on Monday the battle against terrorism would not be won until Saddam was removed from power.

Russia, Iraq’s closest ally on the UN Security Council, wants sanctions against Baghdad eased once inspectors are allowed in and fully lifted when their mission is completed.

Moscow hopes that scrapping sanctions, already in their 11th year, would help it recoup billions of dollars of Soviet-era debt from Iraq.

TURKISH ATTACK: Iraq accused Turkey on Wednesday of carrying out a fresh incursion into the north of the country and called on Ankara to pull its troops out of Iraqi territory.

“This new Turkish aggression against northern Iraq is part of a series of flagrant violations of Iraq’s sovereignty by Turkish armed forces,” said Foreign Minister Naji Sabri in a message to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

“Turkey must immediately cease its acts of aggression and withdraw its troops from Iraqi territory,” said the message, quoted by the official INA news agency.

Sabri urged the UN to intervene to bring an end to Turkey’s “military aggression and meddling in Iraq’s affairs”, INA said.

The Turkish army frequently launches operations into Iraq against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who are believed to have taken shelter there since the 1991 Gulf war.—Reuters/AFP