MOSCOW, June 18: President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russian secret services had provided information to Washington following the Sept 11 attacks that Iraq was planning to stage strikes against the United States, news reports said.

"Really, after the September 11, 2001 events, and before the start of the military operation in Iraq, the Russian special services repeatedly received this type of information, and handed it over to our American colleagues," ITAR-TASS quoted Putin as saying.

But Putin said Russia had no direct evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime was linked to the September 11 strikes, and made no mention of a potential link between Saddam and the Al-Qaeda terror network. "We had no information that Hussein's regime was linked to any specific terror attacks," Putin was quoted as saying. - AFP