MOSCOW, Dec 26: Russia warned on Thursday that a war on Iraq could distract the world’s attention away from the ongoing military campaign in Afghanistan and ease the spread of international terrorism.

“Switching the focus off Afghanistan and shifting it to Iraq may augment the threat of international terrorism which is coming from Afghan territories that are not under Kabul’s control,” Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said while talking to the ITAR-TASS news agency.

He reiterated Russia’s view that the international community currently had no proof of a link between Iraq and international terror organizations.

“Nobody has been able to provide any evidence of this link,” said Fedotov in reference to one of the main arguments from Washington in favour of toppling President Saddam’s government.

Fedotov confirmed that Moscow wanted Baghdad to comply with weapons inspections and for the United States and Britain to give the investigators time to do their work before drawing up war plans.

And as one of Iraq’s main backers in the international arena Fedotov said Russia would press for a re-evaluation of a UN sanctions regime against Iraq should Saddam’s government provide unfettered access to inspectors.

Iraq on Tuesday accused the United States and Britain of blocking contracts worth 7.4 billion dollars from being approved under the current UN oil-for-food programme.

Russia — which holds a large chunk of the Iraq oil export contracts and has major investments in the country’s all-but-frozen oil industry — is seeking to simplify the sanctions list during ongoing negotiations with the United States.

Only a lifting of sanctions, along with Iraq’s cooperation on weapons inspections, “can lead to a long-term solution to the Iraqi problem”, Fedotov said.—AFP