Friday, Mar 07, 2003
Russia warned of backlash
By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW MARCH 6. The United States has threatened Moscow with economic backlash if it blocks the U.S-British Security Council resolution authorising resort to force against Baghdad. A senior U.S. diplomat said Russia risked jeopardising its bid to join the World Trade Organisation if it vetoed the U.N. Security Council resolution.
The unnamed diplomat told The Moscow Times daily here that the U.S. could also retain cold-war era trade restrictions against Russia and lock it out of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. The threats came immediately after the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, held an urgent meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister, Georgy Mamedov, on Wednesday to discuss Russia's decision to torpedo, jointly with France and Germany, the U.S.-British war resolution.
Speaking after the meeting Mr. Mamedov stressed that the Russian-American relations should not be confined to differences over Iraq, but had a broader agenda of partnership. The senior U.S. diplomat said that even though "[Iraq] should not cause the rest of the relationship to be held hostage, but we made clear that that's sometimes easier said than done.'' The Moscow Times said the U.S. economic blackmail was "clearly aimed at putting pressure on Russia'' ahead of the Security Council debate on the U.S.-British resolution. The paper quoted the diplomat as saying that Russia's opposition to the resolution seemed like a ploy to avoid having a vote altogether.
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