January 11, 2003	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 7, 1423

MOSCOW, Jan 10: Russia has put three warships on standby to go to the Gulf within the next month to protect its “national interests” in the event of an American invasion of Iraq.

Russia’s Pacific fleet has been ordered by the central command to prepare two cruisers and a fuel tanker for immediate deployment to the Gulf.

The move will heighten tension between Moscow and Washington, who both have interests in Iraq’s oilfields.

The Marshal Shaposhnikov and the Admiral Panteleyev cruisers would be called upon to defend Russian “national interests” in the Gulf if the conflict between Iraq and the US escalates.

The ships - armed with missiles and reconnaissance equipment - have been ordered to be ready for deployment between late this month and early February.

Lukoil, Russia’s biggest oil firm, had a 20 billion dollars contract with Baghdad to develop the West Qurna oilfield cancelled last month, reportedly after the Iraqi government discovered Russia had been negotiating with Iraq’s opposition.

Military analysts pointed out that the defence of “national interests” may also refer to the Russian military’s desire to conduct surveillance on both sides during any conflict.—Dawn-Guardian News Service

Agencies add: The United States will soon send 7,000 Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to the Gulf to join a major US military buildup in the region for a possible invasion of Iraq, the Marine Corps said on Friday.

Marine officials said a final deployment order had not been received, but that the troops, tanks, warplanes and helicopters from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Lejeune were told to prepare to begin moving within days.

“It is an authorization to embark aboard Navy ships. There is no deployment order as yet,” said Lt. Kate VandenBossche, a Marine spokeswoman at Camp Lejeune.

The United States has this month already begun sending more than 12,000 armoured and infantry troops from the state of Georgia and from Germany and thousands of Marines from California to the Gulf to join some 60,000 US troops now there. Another 10,000 Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers have been put in alert for rapid mobilization.

In Miami, a spokesman for the Florida National Guard said more than 1,200 soldiers in one of the guard’s combat units had been called to active duty and another 600 put on alert for mobilization.

BIGGEST CALL-UP: It was the biggest call-up of Florida National Guard units since World War Two.

The fresh Marine troops and arms would come from the 2nd “MEF” at Camp Pendleton and include support elements from Marine Corps air stations at Cherry Point and New River, North Carolina.

The new year’s surge in forces is expected to more than double the 60,000 troops that the United States now has in the Gulf region before the end of February.

President George Bush says he has made no decision on whether to invade Iraq over US charges that Baghdad is developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. But he has repeatedly warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein that such a move may be necessary despite denials from Baghdad that it is developing those weapons.