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Russia Accuses U.S., Britain of Deliberately Disrupting Iraqi Oil Exports
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| The
U.S.
and
Britain
“are striving to minimize the benefits of companies involved
in exporting Iraqi oil,” says
Russia
.
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MOSCOW,
June 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Moscow
accused Washington and London
early Tuesday, June 18, of deliberately disrupting Iraqi oil exports
in spite of the revised U.N. sanctions regime, thus preventing Baghdad
from importing basic necessities.
A
statement issued by the Russian foreign ministry said that
representatives of the
United States
and
Britain
in the United Nations sanction panel prevented the panel from
establishing adequate prices for Iraqi oil, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
As
a result, prices were artificially set after the oil was delivered,
thus discouraging foreign companies that wanted to purchase Iraqi oil.
“Representatives
of these countries [the
United States
and
Britain
] ... are striving to minimize the benefits of companies involved in
exporting Iraqi oil,” the statement read.
This
“has impacted negatively the U.N. humanitarian program for
Iraq
, which has nearly been interrupted as a result,” the statement went
on.
The
U.N. Security Council earlier voted to adopt a goods review list (GRL)
to replace the cumbersome vetting procedures of the U.N.'s
five-and-a-half year old oil-for-food lifeline, which has enabled
Iraq
to import basic necessities despite a trade embargo.
Iraq
accused the
United States
Sunday, June 16, of trying to sabotage its “oil-for-food”
lifeline, warning that crude exports could drop below one million
barrels per day due to the contested U.N. pricing mechanism.
“It's
a plot by the
U.S.
administration and its lackey,
Britain
, to further harm the Iraqi people. It's a criminal plot that will
lead to death,” vice president of
Iraq
's parliamentary committee on oil and energy, Adnan Janabi, told AFP.
He
was protesting the U.N.-imposed retroactive pricing mechanism on Iraqi
crude, which Oil Minister Amr Rashid warned Saturday, June 15, could
drive
Iraq
's crude exports below one million barrels per day in June.
“The
situation has become very serious,” Rashid said, accusing the
United States
of looking to sabotage “the oil-for-food” program that allows
Iraq
to export oil and import essential goods for the population.
The
pricing system will cause a “four billion dollar drop in Iraqi
revenue at the end of the current phase of the oil-for-food
program," which started in June and runs for six months, the
minister warned.
Last
year,
Britain
and the
United States
forced a tougher pricing policy onto the Security Council's sanctions
committee in response to what they said were attempts by
Iraq
to charge an illegal premium on its crude.
The
price, which was previously determined at the start of each month by
the oil overseers in consultation with the Iraqi oil ministry, is now
set retroactively by the committee.
Rashid
blames the retroactive system for scaring away buyers who do not know
what they will pay for oil until after the fact. “It puts our oil in
a non-competitive situation,” he said.
The
mechanism “lays bare the hostile intentions of the
U.S.
administration which pretended that resolution 1409 would ease the
suffering of the Iraqi people while it was trying to turn off the tap
that gives life to these people,” Janabi said.
The
oil expert was referring to Resolution 1409, adopted by the Security
Council in mid-May, which seeks to free up the delivery of
humanitarian supplies while maintaining the arms embargo and trade
sanctions on
Iraq
.
The
price fixing mechanism “is in keeping with the difference between
Iraq
and the
United States
,” a Baghdad-based Western diplomat told AFP.
The
diplomat did not rule out a “new crisis” between the two countries
which would have a negative impact on
Iraq
's revenues and the humanitarian program.
Iraq
, under repeated threat of a
U.S.
military strike, expects to raise the pricing issue when a delegation
headed by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri meets with U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan in
Vienna
July 4-5, Rashid said.
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