WASHINGTON, March 5: Russian engineers secretly helped Iraq's long-range missile programme in the years leading up to last year's invasion, in violation of a UN ban, The New York Times alleged on Friday quoting US officials.

The Iraq Survey Group (ISG), the US team looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, also found that Baghdad had received assistance from sources in Belarus, Serbia and Ukraine, the US officials said.

Although the United States discovered the Russian engineers' activities after it invaded Iraq a year ago, it chose to keep it secret for fear of harming relations with President Vladimir Putin, the sources said. -AFP