#12 - RW 266
Russia says death of Saddam's sons no guarantee of Iraq stability
July 23, 2003
AFP

Russia held back Wednesday from celebrating news that US troops have killed Saddam Hussein's two sons and warned that their demise still gave no guarantee of security in Iraq.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said it was difficult for Moscow to judge how the killing Tuesday of Uday and Qusay Hussein in a shootout with US troops would improve stability in a nation where skirmishes rage on daily.

"Of course we are following the situation in Iraq. We judge any set of events first of all by how they affect the actual situation," Fedotov told reporters.

"The regime in Iraq has changed and the main efforts must now be focused on the process of reconstruction, an end to crime, the formation of state authorities, and the restoration of the very basic needs of the Iraqi people."

But Fedotov added in reference to the sons' death: "It is difficult for me to say how this fact can affect the future situation in Iraq."

Some Russian lawmakers said the killing showed the desperate measures US forces were resorting to as they grapple with anarchy in post-war Iraq.

"The fact that Hussein's sons were not brought to trial but were killed in fighting proves that a genuine political process in Iraq is a long way off," said the upper house of parliament's foreign affairs chief Mikhail Margelov.

Two US soldiers were killed in separate blasts in Iraq on Wednesday, the day after the battle in the northern city of Mosul that left the two sons and two other people dead.

Uday and Qusay Hussein were among the most reviled men in Iraq. Qusay was the seldom-seen heir apparent to the Iraqi strongman's throne and headed his dreaded security and intelligence apparatus. Uday commanded the Fedayeen paramilitary fighting force.

US authorities said their demise boosted hopes that American and British troops could soon wrap up the most crucial part of their military operations.

Moscow opposed the Iraqi campaign from the start and regarded Saddam as a guarantor of Russia's massive oil investments in Iraq even though relations with him had long turned frosty.

Fedotov said those investments remained in jeopardy because US and British troops had so far failed to restore order in Iraq despite US President George W. Bush's May 1 pronouncement that the war had been all but won.

The work of Russian oil companies and other utilities "is being complicated by a sense of uncertainty and lack of proper security guarantees," said Fedotov, who oversees UN affairs in the Russian foreign ministry.

Moscow said it fully supported UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call Tuesday for an early end to the military occupation of Iraq.

"The sooner the sovereignty of Iraq is restored, the better it will be for the Iraqi people, and for the whole region," Fedotov said.

He was non-committal about the possibility of other nations like Russia joining a peacekeeping force to help the increasingly overwhelmed and exhausted US and British troops -- a call recently made by Washington.

He said the UN Security Council had not discussed the option during its Tuesday session in New York. Fedotov also was vague about what Russia would do should such a proposal be officially brought to the council.

"So far no one has made such a proposal to the Security Council, and this idea is not being discussed. When the proposal is tabled, Russia is prepared to take part, in a constructive fashion, in discussing these proposals and ideas.

"Then we can determine what position we should take in regards to these proposals."

His comments came just as Russia withdrew its last peacekeepers serving in Kosovo because the operation was too costly for the country's cash-strapped armed forces.

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