- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States said on Sunday it had protested to Moscow about reports that
Russian firms have sold Iraq antitank missiles, night vision goggles and
jamming gear.
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- A State Department spokeswoman said Moscow's response
had not been satisfactory.
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- U.S. and British forces are fighting Iraq in an effort
to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and to find and destroy Iraq's
suspected weapons of mass destruction. Iraq has denied it has such weapons.
-
- The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the United
States recently delivered a protest to the Russian government for refusing
to stop Russian arms dealers from providing illegal weapons and assistance
to the Iraqi military.
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- The newspaper cited Bush administration sources as saying
one Russian company was helping the Iraqi military to deploy electronic
jamming equipment against U.S. planes and bombs and two others have sold
antitank missiles and thousands of night-vision goggles in violation of
U.N. sanctions.
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- The sources told the newspaper Moscow had ignored U.S.
concerns about the potential threat to U.S. forces.
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- "We regard this as a very serious matter,"
State Department spokeswoman Brenda Greenberg said. "We thus have
raised this issue with the Russian government a number of times, including
at senior levels and particularly over the past two weeks. The response
so far has not been satisfactory.
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- "We hope that the responsible Russian agencies will
take our concerns seriously," she said. "We are very concerned
about reports that Russian firms are selling militarily sensitive equipment
to Iraq. Such equipment in the hands of the Iraqi military may pose a direct
threat to U.S. and coalition armed forces."
-
- Greenberg declined to say if the Washington Post report
was accurate, saying she could not discuss intelligence matters.
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