“ Russia stands ready to write off its $8 billion debts owed by Iraq ,” said Putin

By Atef Mo’tamed, IOL Staff

CAIRO, April 13 (IslamOnline.net) – Russia stands ready to write off its $8 billion debts owed by Iraq, Russian President Vladimir Putin said late Saturday, April 12.

“This is life: some open their fire, some loot and others pay the price,” Putin told reporters, referring implicitly to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the free-for-all looting that ravaged the war-battered Iraqi capital.

“ Russia is now is paying the price of a mistake not of her own,” he said.

Over the past weeks, the Russian press, to the contrary, said that such debts should be paid by Iraq, asserting that  the United States wanted to “feed on” Russia’s funds under the pretexts of helping the Iraqi people.

The U.S., however, insists that such the debts owed by Iraq to Russia, France and Germany should be written off, arguing that a large portion of such debts were used by Iraq to buy an arsenal of lethal weapons, which posed a threat to its neighboring countries, build luxurious palaces and set up an oppressive security system to curb the freedom of the Iraqis.

Putin’s decision came following a three-way summit between Russian, German and France in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Saturday, April 12.

Secret Meeting Revealed

For his part, former Russian Yefgini Brimakov, the architect of the Russian-Arab relations, unveiled that he secretly met Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad before the start of the U.S.-led occupation.

Brimokov said that he carried a verbal message from Putin to the Iraqi president, urging him to step down and spare his people the scourge of war, the Russian RTR television reported.   

Over the past week, speculations were running high that Russian might have hammered out a deal to provide a safe haven for Saddam and his top aides.

There were reports that the convoy of Russian diplomats that was hit by the U.S. on April 6, was used to camouflage the escape of the Iraqi president.

Several people were injured when a car convoy evacuating the Russian ambassador to Iraq from Baghdad came under the U.S. fire.