March 22, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 18, 1424

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PARIS, March 21: France said on Friday that it will not accede to an American request to expel Iraqi diplomats.

“France has been asked by the American authorities to expel Iraqi diplomats and shut the embassy,” said foreign ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau.

“France believes this request is a matter of sovereignty. At the moment there is no reason to respond positively,” he said.

RUSSIA: Russia will refuse any US demands to expel Iraqi diplomats, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Friday.

“If we were to receive such a request, it would have no legal force and we would react accordingly,” Ivanov told reporters in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

GERMANY: Germany has “no current plans” to comply with a new US request to expel Iraqi diplomats, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

“We have been informed of the US request, but there are no current plans to take any action,” the spokesman said.

The German government has ordered regional authorities not to expel any illegal immigrants from Iraq while war is being waged, an interior ministry spokesman said Friday.—AFP